Total Pokemon Island
by A Disheveled Guy
Summary: Twenty-two different Pokemon compete on an island against each other to win one million Poke. Various drama ensues. Please don't submit your OCs, I don't want them. Updates at least once annually, apparently.
1. The Extreme Exposition Episode

"Hello, everyone! Welcome aboard the craziest show you'll ever see–Total Pokemon Island!" enthusiastically announced a robust purple Pokemon. He had an enormous grin and a pair of squinted red eyes. "I'll be your host, Gengar!"

A tall, beautiful Pokemon appeared next to him, waving at the camera. "I'm the co-host, Gardevoir!" she stated with a dramatic flourish of her arms. "Together we'll be hosting all sorts of challenges here on this island. Twenty-two selected Pokemon will compete in these challenges against each other to win."

"But to win what?" Gengar asked rhetorically. He flashed the camera an exaggerated grin. "Money, of course! The grand prize for the winner of the show is one million Poke! And only one Pokemon can walk away with the title of champion. So who will it be? Let's find out here on Total Pokemon Island!"

As Gengar finished his dramatic introduction, the camera panned to the right of the two hosts. A long wooden dock was shown, and in the distance a small summer camp was visible. The camera settled on a view of the very end of the dock as Gengar and Gardevoir walked over to remain in view.

"In today's episode, we will be introducing the contestants who will be staying on this island," Gengar explained. "Once they've arrived, they will be split into two different teams. Those teams will compete against each other in each of the subsequent challenges until the teams become too small to manage. At that point in the game, the contestants will be merged, and it will be every Pokemon for themselves!"

Gardevoir gestured to an area off-camera. "It looks like the first Lapras is coming in with our contestants!" she exclaimed. She turned to face the camera. "Our contestants are being brought to the island by the Lapras Ferry Service, a highly reputable ferry service consisting only of Lapras!"

A brief advertisement for the Lapras Ferry Service flashed on screen before the show resumed. Gengar and Gardevoir patiently waited as the Lapras slowly stopped at the end of the dock. Its passenger, a purple monkey Pokemon with a hand-like tail, hopped off excitedly and grinned at the two hosts.

"Hey! The name's Aipom!" shouted the little monkey. She extended her tail to the hosts as a greeting. "Nice to meetcha!"

Gengar hesitantly shook Aipom's hand...tail. "Uh...nice to meet you, Aipom!" he said, regaining his composure quickly. "You're the first contestant to arrive!"

"Does that mean I win a prize?" asked Aipom, bouncing up and down energetically.

Gengar laughed. "Nope!" he said. "It means absolutely nothing."

"Well, that sucks," Aipom said, her attitude suddenly changing to one of disappointment. "And after all that trouble I went through to be the first one here. Phooey."

"Er...yeah. Anyway, moving on," Gengar continued, "it seems that our second contestant approaches! That's the second Lapras I see on the horizon, indeed!"

As the second Lapras pulled up to the dock, its passenger flapped off frantically. "Whew. Nice to be on land again," he muttered. The second arrival was a small blue bat Pokemon. He had pointed fangs and appeared to lack eyes. "I'm not a big fan of the ocean. Uh, I'm Zubat, by the way."

"And you signed up for a show that takes place on an island?" Gardevoir asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's a chance to win money!" Zubat protested in defense. "You don't just say no to that!"

"Fair enough, my friend. Fair enough," said Gengar, nodding his head. "Why don't you head on over by Aipom while we wait for the rest of you to show up?"

"Sure," said Zubat. He fluttered over to Aipom and turned in her general direction. Aipom couldn't tell if he was looking at her or not, because he had no eyes, but she waved at him eagerly anyway. Zubat smiled.

"Ahem. Excuse me," came an unfamiliar voice. Gengar glanced around in surprise, but saw no one. The third Lapras was already pulling away from the dock, having dumped its passenger on the island unnoticed. "Down here."

Gengar glanced down and saw a short acorn Pokemon standing on the wooden boards. He had two stubby feet, a gray acorn cap, and a pair of tired looking eyes. "I'm Seedot. It's a pleasure," he said in a voice that didn't convey any real excitement.

"Welcome to the island, Seedot," Gardevoir greeted him, covering for her partner. "You can take your place with the other campers."

Seedot nodded and joined the first two campers. Aipom peered over at him with big eyes while Zubat didn't pay him too much attention.

The fourth Lapras was quick to arrive, and it dropped off a different Pokemon that also looked like a monkey. This one was mostly orange in color and had a bright flame burning at the end of its tail.

"Monferno," the fourth camper greeted the hosts politely, extending a hand formally. Both of the hosts shook it and Monferno gave them both a subtle smile. "Thanks for letting me compete."

"We're glad to have you," Gengar told him. "Head down to the end of the dock and wait for everyone else to arrive."

"Will do," said Monferno, giving Gengar a mock salute and walking over to the others. He stood a short distance to Zubat's right, giving the bat enough room to flap his wings without hitting anything.

"Hey, are you edible?" asked Aipom, poking Seedot with the end of her tail. She had been wondering that burning question ever since he arrived on the island, but she couldn't keep it to herself anymore.

"Excuse me, what?" asked Seedot, having an appropriate reaction to being asked such a question.

Aipom decided to articulate further. "Let's say someone tried to consume you," she explained in more detail. "Would you have any nutritional value? Maybe you contain a lot of protein, or…?"

Seedot turned away and did his best to pretend that didn't happen.

Gardevoir tapped her foot on the dock impatiently as she waited for the next Lapras to arrive. The boards of the dock creaked each time she tapped them. She furrowed her brow in mild irritation.

The fifth Lapras did arrive several minutes later, dropping off a tiny pink berry-like Pokemon. Her main body consisted of one berry, but a second, smaller berry was connected by a stem that sprouted from her head.

"Hey. I'm Cherubi," she said, smiling as she walked over to the hosts. "It's nice to meet y–"

She was cut off abruptly as the planks she was walking over somehow collapsed underneath her weight and she fell through into the water.

"I told you we should have gotten a better dock," Gardevoir complained to Gengar.

Gengar scoffed. "Yeah. And you also told me that we should have bought an indoor bowling alley for our cabin, but we all know how that turned out."

"Okay, we don't talk about that," Gardevoir said hastily. She cast nervous glances at the camera. "Not on TV. Later, maybe."

"Fine, whatever you say," said Gengar smugly, smirking after winning their little argument. His face froze in confusion. "Wait, weren't we doing something?"

A loud sputtering sound came from beneath the dock as Cherubi pulled herself out of the water. Monferno jogged over and held out a hand to help her up. She took his hand and he pulled her up.

"Oh yeah, that was it," Gengar said. He gave Cherubi a big smile. "Welcome to Total Pokemon Island!"

"Yeah. Hi," said Cherubi, putting up a front of false enthusiasm. Her mood was dampened, quite literally, after falling through the dock.

"Are you okay?" asked Monferno, showing some concern.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. This kind of stuff happens all the time," said Cherubi with an awkward laugh.

Monferno raised an eyebrow. "It...does?"

"Oh yeah," Cherubi said, chuckling. "All of my mail from this past week got burned in a horrific traffic accident. I got robbed two weeks ago and lost pretty much everything. And three weeks ago, I was diagnosed with a rare disease that could potentially kill me at any moment."

Monferno laughed awkwardly after a moment's hesitation. "Ha...um, you're joking. Right?" he asked, trying to tell whether or not she was actually being serious.

"Well, I was kidding about the rare disease part. But I do have notoriously bad luck," Cherubi said. "Wait, hang on a sec."

Cherubi set down her bags and opened her suitcase. She pulled out a mirror that had been shattered into countless pieces. "Looks like my mirror broke again," she sighed. "Good thing I packed extras."

Cherubi pulled out five more broken mirrors. "Uh...well, that's thirty-five more years of bad luck," she counted mentally. "Which means I'm due for slightly over a thousand years of bad luck now. That's a pretty big landmark."

"Okay, get out of here, you screenhog," said Gengar, pushing her aside. Cherubi stumbled and accidentally fell into the water again. The sixth Lapras coasted alongside the shore and its passenger, a nimble yellow mouse Pokemon, hopped off and landed on the dock.

"What's up? Name's Raichu!" she shouted. The newcomer glanced over at the previous five arrivals and gave them a cocky grin. "Might as well quit now and save yourselves the effort, because I plan on walking home with that money!"

"Don't we all, sweetheart," Seedot droned. Zubat snickered.

Raichu cast a defiant glare at Seedot and took her place in the crowd. "You think you're funny, huh?" she asked, confronting Seedot. He stared at her apathetically. "It won't be too funny to you when I send you home first."

"Go ahead, be my guest. I'd love to see you try," Seedot offered. "As long as we're on opposite teams, of course."

Raichu scowled and turned away from him. It probably wasn't worth starting rivalries on the very first episode. Especially with someone like him.

The seventh Lapras showed up and a much larger Pokemon than the previous contestants stepped off of his Lapras. He was a scaly blue alligator Pokemon with yellow eyes, a strong jaw, and intimidating claws. But to the hosts' surprise, all he did was give a friendly wave.

"Welcome to the island! And you are...Feraligatr?" prompted Gengar. The croc nodded and glanced over at the other campers. Monferno was watching him curiously and Aipom was clapping her hands together and dancing around in silly ways because she felt like it. Feraligatr simply blinked.

"You can take a spot over by them, you know," Gengar offered. Feraligatr gave him a thumbs-up and marched over to the others. Cherubi was drying herself off with a towel that Raichu had offered her, so Feraligatr gave them some distance.

"You don't say much, huh?" asked Raichu, initiating a conversation with Feraligatr. "Strong, silent type? That what you're going for?"

Feraligatr shrugged. "I just don't have much to say," he replied.

Raichu tapped her foot on the dock. "Makes sense," she said. "I'm Raichu, by the way. In case you missed that."

Feraligatr nodded and gave her a smile. Cherubi returned Raichu's towel just as the eighth contestant arrived at the island.

The Lapras paused at the dock to give the contestant some time to carry their bags off of its shell. The contestant was a relatively small yellow Pokemon with squinted eyes and a long tail. She floated in midair, but had no wings–most campers were quick to recognize that she had psychic powers that allowed her to levitate.

"I'm Abra," the yellow Pokemon introduced herself. "It's really cool to be here."

"Welcome aboard, Abra. Why don't you head down that way?" Gengar instructed her. She gave him a nod and took a spot somewhere between Monferno and Zubat.

"Are you real?" asked Aipom as Abra settled in by the others.

"Um, yes. I consider myself real," Abra confirmed. She gave Aipom a quizzical look. "Are you?" Abra retorted jokingly.

"Good question!" Aipom shouted. She punched herself in the gut with her tail. "OW. Okay, that was real. Definitely real. Oof." Abra frowned and faced the other way.

"Here comes number nine," Gardevoir announced. The next arrival stepped off of his Lapras with a smile, twirling a cane and tipping his top hat to the hosts.

"You may call me Politoed," said the small green frog in the hat. "I am quite grateful to have been accepted onto this show. So, a token of my appreciation."

Politoed tapped his cane once on the dock and a bouquet of flowers popped out of the end of the cane. Politoed plucked the flowers from the tip and handed them off to Gardevoir. "For you, milady," he said, winking. Gardevoir stared at him in surprise.

"And for you, sir," Politoed said, turning to the other host, "I also have a surprise."

"It's not flowers, right?" Gengar asked. "I do have mild allergic reactions to some kinds of flowers."

"Ah, I had prepared something different for you," Politoed said. "It wouldn't have the same effect otherwise. You might want to check behind your ear right about now."

"Huh?" grunted Gengar. He reached behind his ear and pulled out a shiny silver coin. A greedy smile slowly spread across his face. "I like this guy," Gengar commented. Politoed smirked.

"Wait, he gets money and I just get a bunch of flowers?" Gardevoir protested. "What am I supposed to do with these anyway?"

Politoed glanced back. "Ah. Were you perhaps hoping for a shiny silver coin as well?" Politoed asked.

"It would be nice," said Gardevoir, fiddling with the flowers in her hand. "Not that I don't appreciate flowers."

"Well, I just so happen to be fresh out of coins at the moment," Politoed said. He winked at Gardevoir. "But I'll see what I can do."

The other campers stared in bewilderment as the magician took his place among them. Politoed tipped his hat to Seedot, who had his eyes fixated on the frog with a look of distrust. Seedot didn't care much for magic; it was all a bunch of hogwash and mind tricks to him.

"So you do magic, huh?" Abra inquired. "That's cool. I know a bit of magic myself!"

"Hm. It's not really magic, though, is it?" asked Politoed, a twinkle in his eye.

Abra laughed casually. "No, I guess not," she said. She stuck out a hand. "Abra."

Politoed shook her hand and the two of them continued to have a polite conversation as the next contestant arrived. She was completely hidden by a cloth that was draped over her body; the cloth had been folded so that it was shaped like a Pikachu, and a crude face that resembled a Pikachu's had even been drawn on the front.

"Hi! I'm Mimikyu!" announced a muffled voice from underneath the cloth. "And this is Pikachu! Say hi, Pikachu!"

The fake Pikachu head wobbled back and forth. "Hi, I'm Pikachu!" said Mimikyu in a goofy voice, shaking the Pikachu head around to make it seem like it was talking. "It's nice to meetcha!"

Raichu cracked a grin. "Heh. She's like a ventriloquist, except you can't tell which part the puppet is," she said with a chuckle.

Mimikyu waddled over to the other contestants. "Hi, everyone!" Mimikyu introduced herself again. "It's nice to meet you all! And Pikachu's glad to meet you, too!"

"Oh, yeah! I love meeting people!" said Mimikyu in Pikachu's voice, wobbling the puppet head.

"That's not a real Pikachu," said Seedot, preemptively bursting the bubble that Mimikyu was building up.

"I sure am!" said Pikachu, wobbling back and forth. "Look at me! I can even talk!" Seedot sighed.

"A puppeteer. How quaint," said Politoed, a smile on his face. Cherubi also gave Mimikyu an approving look. Feraligatr watched her from a distance with a look of curiosity.

"Oy," a new voice rudely interrupted. Gengar and Gardevoir whirled around to see a lizard Pokemon with sagging pants standing there, looking annoyed. "We don't have all day, do we?"

Gengar pretended to look at a watch on his wrist. "No, we've got plenty of time," he joked, looking at the newcomer for his response. The lizard's eyes narrowed and he scowled. Evidently he didn't care for Gengar's sense of humor.

Gardevoir cleared her throat, and the eleventh contestant set his gaze on her. "You would be Scraggy, correct?" she asked.

"That's right," he stated. He cast glares into the crowd of contestants who were already present. "Is this it?"

"Well, obviously there are more who haven't arrived," Gengar stated. "But you're the eleventh one here, so we're actually halfway through."

Scraggy glared at Gengar and sauntered over to the other campers. They all gave him a wide berth, noticing his sour mood. Aipom, however, crept up behind Scraggy silently and decided to startle him.

"BOO!" screamed Aipom, jumping in front of Scraggy and waving her arms wildly for added effect. Scraggy jumped back with a shout, but he regained his composure moments later and glared daggers at Aipom. She just stuck out her tongue with a blank look on her face.

"What the hell," Scraggy muttered, shaking his head. "There's something wrong with this place."

The twelfth contestant arrived shortly after Scraggy, and Gengar greeted him with his usual toothy grin. "Welcome to the island!" shouted Gengar.

"Hey," the newcomer replied casually, waving a claw. He had brown spikes on his back and dark blue eyes, and he resembled a shrew. "I'm Sandslash."

"Great! Why don't you take a seat by the others?" Gengar suggested, pointing Sandslash toward the other campers with a dramatic sweeping gesture of his arm. "Or you could stand. That's also a perfectly valid option."

"I'll stand, thanks," Sandslash said, frowning at Gengar. He walked over as he was told, and Mimikyu wiggled her puppet at him playfully.

Zubat's ears twitched as Sandslash approached. "Hey, that's the twelfth one, right?" he whispered to Monferno.

"Uh, yeah," Monferno said, glancing back at Zubat.

"So that's over half of us," Zubat muttered. "Cool."

The thirteenth Lapras didn't take long afterward to arrive. Its contestant, a round purple Pokemon, floated down onto the dock gracefully. She had a yellow X marking about where her mouth would be.

"My name is Drifblim," she told Gengar in a surprisingly deep voice. "Thank you for having me."

"Any time, Drifblim. Why don't you head down that way?" Gengar told her. Drifblim blinked in response and floated over to the others. Abra gave her a quick wave, and Drifblim nodded at Abra in acknowledgment.

The fourteenth contestant, a pink fairy-like Pokemon, stepped onto the dock in quick succession. "I'm Clefable," she told the hosts. Her voice was soft and pleasant to listen to. "It's nice to finally meet both of you. You're Gengar and Gardevoir, I take it?"

"That's us," said Gengar, smirking. "You're the first contestant who seems to recognize us! Congratulations!"

Clefable laughed softly. "Am I really? Well, clearly I'm the only one who came to this island prepared," she said, chuckling. Gengar smiled at her.

"Number fifteen's coming in. Clefable, you can head over to the other campers," Gardevoir informed the other Fairy-type. Clefable smiled at the co-host and walked over to the others, giving her fellow contestants a pleasant smile. Mimikyu waved to her with her Pikachu head and Feraligatr also gave her a friendly wave. Cherubi figured that Clefable looked nice enough and made a mental note to talk to her later.

Gardevoir helped the fifteenth contestant off of her Lapras. The newcomer was an icy white fox Pokemon with bright blue eyes and wavy fur. "Thank you," said the fox as Gardevoir took a step back. "My name's Ninetales. I'm not late, am I?" she asked, noticing the other campers.

"Nope! You're in the right place at the right time," Gengar said. "Welcome to the island, Ninetales!"

Ninetales gave Gengar a quick smile before joining the others. Raichu perked up as Ninetales drew closer. "Hey, you're one of them Alolan Pokemon, aren't you?" asked Raichu.

"That's correct," Ninetales said. "I'm from Alola, but I actually live in Kanto now."

"Fascinating," muttered Seedot sarcastically. Raichu shot the acorn a nasty glare. Ninetales gave him a disapproving look as well.

The sixteenth contestant to arrive was a brown mole Pokemon with a drill-like helmet of steel and sharpened claws that looked strong enough to pierce through solid rock. He marched over to Gengar formally and stuck out his hand. "Excadrill," said the mole in a serious tone. "Good to meet you, sir."

"Thanks. You can drop the 'sir,' by the way," Gengar informed the mole. Excadrill nodded curtly and marched over to his fellow contestants. Sandslash eyed him suspiciously but said nothing.

Gardevoir watched as the seventeenth Lapras stopped to let its passenger off. A small ghost Pokemon with what appeared to be a pointed horn on his head flew off. He looked to the hosts nervously, not knowing what to do.

"Your name?" Gengar prompted him.

"Uh, Shuppet. That's right," he mumbled nervously. "This is, er, my first time on TV."

"Really? I couldn't tell," said Gardevoir sarcastically. Gengar chortled and the two hosts smirked at Shuppet mockingly. The ghost flew over to the other contestants, looking embarrassed.

"Excuse me."

Gardevoir jumped in surprise as an unexpected voice spoke. The hosts looked down to see that the eighteenth camper was also there. She was a small round bug Pokemon wrapped in a leafy cloak.

"Where's your Lapras?" Gengar asked her dubiously.

"He was drunk. Had to hitch a ride with Shuppet," explained the bug. "I'm Swadloon, by the way."

"Good to know. We're almost done with camper introductions, so you can wait over there for a little while," Gengar explained to her. Swadloon nodded and sort of rolled herself over to the others. Scraggy scowled as she accidentally bumped into him.

"Whoops. My bad," Swadloon muttered.

"Yeah. Watch it," Scraggy threatened. Drifblim turned to face Scraggy, her expression unreadable. Granted, her expression hadn't changed during her entire time on the island. Perhaps her range of facial expressions was just very limited.

Swadloon rolled her eyes, not seeming fazed at all by Scraggy. The nineteenth Lapras (eighteenth, technically) dropped off its passenger. She was a blue serpentine Pokemon with beady black eyes.

"Ah, you must be Dragonair!" Gengar said. "Welcome!"

Dragonair nodded at him silently and also acknowledged Gardevoir before slithering over to join the campers. Clefable stepped aside to make room for her at the end of the dock.

"Only three contestants remain to be introduced," Gengar stated. "And here comes one of them now!"

"Hi," said the twentieth contestant flatly as he got off of his Lapras. He was a floating blue metallic Pokemon with two arms and dark red eyes. "I'm Metang."

"That's great! Now go stand over there," Gengar said. Metang shrugged and did as he was told.

Waves gently crashed against the shore of the island as the hosts waited for the remaining two contestants. A Lapras slowly swam up to the dock, and a burly looking scorpion Pokemon hobbled off. She looked around at everyone warily before approaching the hosts.

"My name is Drapion," said the scorpion in a raspy voice. "This is Total Pokemon Island, isn't it?"

Gengar nodded. "Good, good," murmured Drapion. She twitched suddenly. "I would hate to have been on the wrong island. Then again, I could swim back to the mainland on my own. I could swim an entire ocean if I had to."

Gengar glanced at Gardevoir uncertainly as Drapion continued. "It's survival of the fittest out there! Had I been on the wrong island, I'd have probably been better off! Living on my own in the wild, using my survival skills to make my way to the top of the food chain…" Drapion went on. "I would have changed the laws of nature itself!"

"Ooookay," said Gengar, a little weirded out. "Well, you're on a TV show, which is the next best thing to surviving in the wilderness. Why don't you go stand over there?"

Drapion twitched and gave Gengar a shaky nod. She hobbled over to the other contestants, who tried to avoid making eye contact with her. Drapion's claws fidgeted as she stood there. Cherubi watched her, partly curious and partly wary of the newcomer.

"Uh, howdy there!" came a new voice. The hosts turned to see the final Lapras pulling away. A blue amorphous Pokemon with a spiky spiral-shaped shell wiggled his way over to the hosts. "I'm Omastar! Nice to meet you!"

"Congratulations, Omastar! You're the last contestant to arrive!" Gengar told him.

Omastar's eyes sparkled with excitement. "Whoa, really?" he gasped. "That's so cool!"

"No, it's not. It's just the same as arriving third or seventeenth. Except you arrive last," said Gengar, quickly raining on Omastar's parade.

But Omastar was not to be disappointed so easily. "Yeah, but now I get to meet everyone right away instead of having to wait for them to arrive!" Omastar pointed out. He turned toward the other campers and waved at them like a maniac. "HI, EVERYONE! I'M OMASTAR!"

"Hi, Omastar!" called Mimikyu.

Her Pikachu puppet bobbed its head back and forth. "Yeah, hi, Omastar!" it said in that same goofy voice. Mimikyu giggled from under her cloth.

Omastar laughed. "Whoa, a puppet! Neat!" he said, grinning happily.

"Why don't you go over by the others so we can wrap things up here?" Gardevoir asked him, pushing Omastar gently toward the others.

"Ha ha! Okay!" Omastar said happily. He walked over toward the others and settled in by Mimikyu, beaming radiantly at anyone who so much as glanced his way.

"Ugh. He's so positive it's sickening," Seedot said, pretending to gag. Swadloon chuckled.

Gengar clapped his hands together and got everyone's attention. "Okay, everyone! Now that you're all here, we'll take this into camp so you can finally see where you'll be staying!" the host announced. He waved his hand toward the campsite. "Follow me!"

Gengar and Gardevoir led the pack of campers away from the dock and across the grassy ground until they reached the campsite. The campsite was surrounded by woods on all sides except the one where it connected to the shore. Excadrill surveyed the camp for any important details. There were three cabins in the camp, a cafeteria, and some other building that he couldn't quite figure out.

"We're staying in those cabins, right?" Ninetales asked, speaking up.

"Correct! Each cabin is divided in half, and there's one side for each team," Gengar explained. "The cabin on the left is where the male campers will be staying, and the one on the right is for you ladies. Once we divide you into teams, you'll know which side of the cabin you'll be staying in."

"Over here is our confessional feature," Gardevoir said, gesturing to an outhouse. "In it, you can–"

"Wait, hold up. We're doing confessionals in an outhouse?" Swadloon asked, making a face.

Gardevoir put her hands on her hips. "And you'll like it."

Metang stared at the outhouse with a disappointed look on his face. The confessional feature he'd been excited to use did not live up to his expectations.

"If anyone wants to go in now and use it, you're more than welcome," Gengar said. "Just try not to hold us up for too long. We still have to split you all into teams today."

Monferno shrugged and took a step inside the outhouse. He closed the door and turned on a camera that was mounted on a wall.

 **####**

 **Monferno tapped his leg awkwardly. "So I guess I'm the first one to use this confessional," he said. "It feels weird. The whole island, I mean. I guess I'm not about to turn down a shot for a million Poke, though."**

 **####**

" **So...I'm not off to a great start," sighed Shuppet. "I don't know. I haven't made any friends yet, and I feel like the hosts think I'm a complete pushover."**

 **He stared at the wall blankly. "...am I really a pushover?"**

 **####**

 **Raichu smirked confidently and leaned against the wall. "This'll be a piece of cake," she said. "Those other campers will see what I can do and they'll run. It's just as well, as I don't plan on losing anyway."**

 **####**

 **Politoed twirled his cane around and then glanced at the camera. "Well, I must confess I had higher hopes for this show. Using an outhouse like this is...creative, but demeaning for everyone involved," he said. "Ah, well. I'll make the best of it."**

 **####**

" **The other campers seem nice enough," said Dragonair quietly. "I'm not much for socializing, but maybe I can make a friend or two while I'm here. I've heard that alliances help in these shows."**

 **####**

" **Aha! Just as I thought. There's mold in this outhouse," said Drapion, peering at a spot that was indeed covered in mold. "And mold is like nature's way of saying 'You're too old! Die already!'" Drapion cackled and punched the wall of the outhouse. Her eye twitched again.**

 **####**

 **Metang stared at a dent in the wall that was in the shape of Drapion's claw. "Okay, then," he said, not seeming perturbed about that. "Well, allow me to say…"**

 **Metang let out a deep sigh. "...that this show is massively disappointing in every way and this is one summer I'm never getting back," he groaned. "Can't believe I went through with this. It's ridiculous. There's no way I'm winning that money."**

 **####**

" **This seems swell!" said Omastar optimistically. "They've got it all! A summer camp! A confessional! An outhouse! And they actually** _ **combined**_ **the outhouse and the confessional! Cool!"**

 **####**

" **Flattery seems to be effective on the hosts. That's good to know," Clefable said, laughing. "It seems I played my cards the right way, then. I don't need to be the best at the challenges as long as the hosts like me."**

 **####**

" **What do you think of the island, Mimikyu?" mumbled the Pikachu puppet.**

" **I think it's pretty cool! Although I haven't seen much yet. Some of the contestants are kind of scary, though," Mimikyu admitted. "But some of them are nice. How about you, Pikachu?"**

" **I'm just a puppet!" said Pikachu with a laugh. Mimikyu laughed too.**

 **The camera filmed Mimikyu laughing to herself for several more minutes.**

 **####**

"Okay, I think that's everyone that wanted to use the confessional for now!" Gengar stated. "Let's continue the tour, then!"

The campers followed the hosts to the cafeteria. Gengar held the door open while Gardevoir led the contestants inside. They entered single file and began sitting down at the tables in the cafeteria. Gengar and Gardevoir walked to the front of the cafeteria to address them.

"It's time to split you into teams now!" said Gengar, slamming his hands down on a cafeteria table. "Whether you like it or not, the Pokemon you're teamed up with are the ones you're stuck with for the next few weeks!"

Abra was taken aback by the host's sudden change in attitude. Gardevoir held up a list in front of her and began to read it aloud. "Our first team will consist of…" she began.

"Abra." The psychic perked up and began to listen for her other teammates.

"Scraggy. Cherubi." Scraggy scowled and kicked his feet up on the table. Cherubi didn't react, but she didn't seem upset at the very least.

"Zubat. Excadrill." Zubat smirked as he heard his name called. Excadrill nodded silently and glanced over at his teammates.

"Clefable, Ninetales, Sandslash," Gardevoir continued. Clefable smiled at the hosts pleasantly while Ninetales and Sandslash exchanged a wordless glance.

"Omastar. Aipom." Omastar beamed at Aipom, who gave Omastar a high-five and cheered loudly. "And finally Politoed."

Politoed tipped his hat to the co-host and looked around at his teammates. Sandslash was giving Politoed an uneasy look, while Aipom was bouncing in her seat from the excitement.

"Did everyone catch that?" asked Gardevoir. The Pokemon whose names were called all nodded. "Good. On to the second team, then."

Gardevoir passed the list to Gengar, who began to read off the names of each of the members of the second team. "The second team will consist of…" Gengar began.

"Shuppet." The ghostly puppet's eyes flitted back and forth between the hosts.

"Mimikyu, Seedot." Mimikyu wiggled back and forth in her seat. Seedot blinked in boredom.

"Drapion, Dragonair." Drapion slammed her claw on the table in approval and Dragonair glanced at Drapion with a look of concern.

"Monferno. Feraligatr," Gengar continued. Monferno shrugged and Feraligatr crossed his arms. "Drifblim."

Drifblim glanced at each of her new teammates as their names were called. "Raichu. Metang." Raichu grinned cockily and Metang tapped his arms on the table impatiently. "And finally, Swadloon."

"Saved the best for last, eh?" Swadloon asked with a sly grin.

"Only time will tell on that, Swadloon. Only time will tell," Gengar said. "Now, you can get acquainted with your teammates if you'd like. Or you can completely ignore them. But regardless of your stance on your team, they're the ones you'll be working with in challenges."

"Wait, we're not getting team names?" asked Shuppet. "I thought these shows always did that sort of thing."

"What do you mean, 'these shows?' This is a completely original concept!" Gengar said unconvincingly.

Shuppet blinked. "Um, okay. But do we get team names?"

Gengar sighed in defeat. "Okay, fine. We'll give you team names. Your team is hereby known as the Screaming Watchogs!"

Rather than applauding the name, the Screaming Watchogs looked at each other in confusion. Watchogs were not known for screaming, but rather for their spectacular eyesight. The team name didn't make much sense, but they weren't going to argue it.

"And your team…" Gengar said, pointing at Abra, "...is now the Killer Basculin!"

"I can get behind that team name," Zubat agreed.

"Hey, that's not fair! They got a better team name!" Metang complained. "Watchogs don't even scream!"

"Oh, yeah, they do. Trust me," Gardevoir said. The campers all stared at her awkwardly for a few moments. "What?"

"Well, do you want a new team name? How about the Sucky Spindas. There. It's official now," Gengar said, put off by Metang's complaining.

"That's not any better," Metang pointed out.

"And whose fault is that?" Gengar huffed. He turned to the rest of the campers. "Okay, everyone! It's time for cabin assignments! Follow me again!"

The campers all filed out of the cafeteria after Gengar, this time trying to get used to who their teammates were.

 **####**

" **So we're the Sucky Spindas now," Metang groaned. "That's just great. Me and my big mouth."**

 **####**

" **I would have much rather been a Watchog than a Spinda," Dragonair mused. "But alas, fate has decreed that I am now sucky."**

 **####**

" **There's no way the other team can win with a name like the Sucky Spindas!" Aipom said, giggling. "Heh heh...that's funny."**

 **####**

"As previously explained, each cabin is divided into two parts. On the left side, the Basculin members will stay. And on the right, the Spindas will stay," Gardevoir told the campers. "Does everyone understand that?"

"Yes, ma'am," Excadrill said, saluting her.

"Okay," said Gardevoir. "That's good. Everyone should unpack then and get a good night's sleep. Your first challenge will begin tomorrow!"

The campers began to disperse and file into their cabins, beginning to recognize their new teammates as they did so. Raichu and Seedot made eye contact and Raichu scowled. Seedot was on the same team as her after all.

 **####**

" **I was really looking forward to making an example out of him in front of the other campers," Raichu said, crossing her arms. "But I guess I'll just beat the other team to a pulp instead. That'll teach him some respect."**

 **####**

" **I feel like I've made an enemy already," Seedot sighed. "It is what it is. She'll give up on this soon."**

 **He blinked. "I hope," Seedot added.**

 **####**

In the Sucky Spindas' side of the male cabin, the guys were unpacking their belongings. Metang set down his suitcase on the bed above Feraligatr's.

"So...hi, everyone," Monferno said, waving to everyone else. "I hope we all got off on the right foot. I'm Monferno, in case we haven't met yet."

"I'm Feraligatr," said the big croc, holding out a clawed hand to Monferno. Monferno shook it hesitantly, still a bit intimidated by Feraligatr's size, but Feraligatr's warm smile was reassuring.

"And, uh, I'm Shuppet," the little blue puppet intervened awkwardly. "Hiya."

"Boy, we're having a blast already," Seedot said sarcastically, sitting down on a lower bed. "Isn't this so much fun. Woohoo."

"I wonder what the first challenge is going to be," Metang muttered. "You guys wonder about that?"

"Of course," Monferno said. "It's pretty much the only thing that's been on my mind since I got here. Hopefully it's not too hard."

"Prepare for the worst," Seedot said. "If you're expecting the absolute worst possible scenario, your expectations will always be surpassed."

The other guys stared at him. "That's...deep," Metang said awkwardly.

 **####**

On the other side of the cabin, the Killer Basculin guys were getting settled in. Sandslash kept an eye on Politoed as he unpacked, half expecting him to pull a Buneary out of nowhere. But he didn't.

"So, we're like teammates now, right?" Omastar asked excitedly. "That's cool! I've never been part of a team before. Or been on TV, for that matter!"

"Me neither," Zubat admitted. "I'm not sure what to expect yet."

"I suspect the first few challenges should be somewhat simplistic in nature," Politoed theorized. "I believe they may try to save the more difficult and arguably more interesting challenges for later."

"That's usually how they do things," Sandslash agreed. He kept his gaze on Politoed. "You seem to know a lot about these kinds of shows."

"I've seen my share of them," said Politoed, giving Sandslash a pleasant smile.

"Hm. So you have," Sandslash murmured quietly. "Well, so have I."

"Good. Then our team should be prepared for what's to come," Politoed stated brightly.

"Heck yeah, dudes! I'm so ready for this!" shouted Omastar.

"Do try and control yourself," Excadrill said, tapping Omastar's shell. "We need to act as one unit during these challenges. Loose cannons can't be tolerated."

"Ha ha! Loose cannons? Whaaat?" Omastar laughed.

Excadrill narrowed his eyes. "Yes. Loose cannons. Much like yourself."

"All right, guys, keep it cool," Sandslash said.

Scraggy leaned up against one of the bunk beds, crossing his arms. "Who made you the leader?" he scoffed at Sandslash.

Sandslash turned to face Scraggy irritably. "Excuse me?"

"No thanks, pal. I'll do what I want," Scraggy argued. "Why don't you stop trying to manage our team and just let them work things out on their own?"

"That's not what I'm doing," Sandslash said, his temper building.

"That's what it looks like to me," Scraggy said, keeping a steady tone; the intent behind his words was still evident.

Politoed tapped his cane on the floor twice. Scraggy and Sandslash turned to face him. "Gentlemen, please," said Politoed, "we're all on the same team here."

Scraggy scoffed. "Yeah, whatever. I'm not listening to some guy who dresses up like he's from the last century," he sneered.

Politoed maintained a level gaze on Scraggy. "Ah. So that's how it is," said Politoed, keeping a cool head. "What a shame." He turned away and continued unpacking his bags.

 **####**

" **Yeah, so the teamwork among my new teammates? Not looking so good," confessed Zubat. "Yikes. Hope I didn't get the wrong team."**

 **####**

In the other cabin, the Killer Basculin females were also conversing among themselves. Aipom was hanging from the top bunk of a bed by her tail, swinging back and forth. Ninetales set down her bags next to Clefable's.

"So...bunk beds, huh?" Ninetales observed. "I haven't slept in one of these since I was nine, probably."

"You'll get used to it again," Clefable reassured her. "Want to bunk together?"

"Sure," Ninetales agreed. The two Fairy-types continued unpacking their belongings as Cherubi and Abra also entered the cabin.

Abra tossed her suitcase onto a bed and exhaled a big breath. "Whew. I'm just glad that intro stuff's out of the way," she admitted. "I hate being in the spotlight."

"Why are you on TV then?" Clefable asked, giving Abra a frown.

"Because...money?" offered Abra weakly.

Ninetales smirked. "That's why I'm here, honestly," the fox laughed. "Isn't that why we're all here?"

"Pretty much," said Abra, gaining a little confidence again after having Ninetales back her up. Clefable made a face at Abra and turned away again.

Cherubi set her suitcase down onto one of the lower bunks gently, but the bed immediately collapsed as soon as her suitcase touched it.

Cherubi sighed. "Typical." Abra patted her consolingly.

"WHOOOO! FEEL THE RUSH!" Aipom said, swinging around. She went cross-eyed. "Uh-oh. Blood's rushing to my head." Aipom fell off the bed and hit the ground head first. "Ow."

 **####**

The Sucky Spindas girls were unpacking their things on the other side of the cabin. Raichu was setting up some posters by her bed to make it feel more personal. Drifblim had finished unpacking and was scribbling in what everyone else assumed was a personal journal.

Drapion set down her two suitcases, and they caused a resounding loud _thud._ Raichu glanced over and shook her head.

"What's in there, dumbbells?" joked Raichu.

The corner of Drapion's mouth twitched. "No. Of course not," Drapion said. She opened her suitcases, and inside were small shelves packed to the brim with various foods that didn't look very appealing. "It's my rations for my stay on the island."

"You know they're serving us food, right?" Swadloon reminded Drapion. "That's why they have a cafeteria."

Drapion's eye twitched. "Fool! You don't know what they put in that food! They could be controlling your MINDS with that stuff!" Drapion spat. "This is the only way to ensure that I maintain my free will!"

"Fair enough," Swadloon said, clearly amused by Drapion's...eccentric behavior.

Dragonair slithered past Drapion, who was locking her suitcases with three sets of locks each. "If I catch anyone stealing from my rations, I'll cut off their right hand," Drapion said, her eyes wide.

"Question!" said Mimikyu. "What if the Pokemon in question doesn't have a right hand?"

"I also do not have a right hand," Swadloon reminded Drapion. "It'd be a shame if you tried to cut my right hand off, only to realize I don't have one."

"Then I'll skewer you with my rapier," Drapion hissed.

Swadloon looked slightly more concerned to hear this. "Rapier? What rapier?"

"As if I'd tell you where I hid it," Drapion said, her eyes twitching madly.

"Let's just agree not to steal from her," Dragonair suggested. "Can everyone agree to that?"

"Sure thing, Dragonair!" said the Pikachu puppet, its head wobbling. Swadloon chuckled at Mimikyu's act. Dragonair smiled at her.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just don't keep me up tonight. I got to be at the top of my game tomorrow," said Raichu firmly. "We're not losing the first challenge on my watch."

 **####**

Gengar rubbed his hands together vigorously. He stood with Gardevoir just outside the third cabin, which was reserved for the hosts and other crew members to stay in.

"Think the campers are going to be ready for the first challenge?" Gengar asked, looking to Gardevoir.

Gardevoir chuckled darkly. "Ha ha. Not if we have anything to do about it," she said, a mischievous look on her face.

"That's what I like to hear," cackled Gengar. "Let's get to it!"


	2. Fortress Frenzy

It was nighttime on the island. All twenty-two campers had gotten settled into their cabins and were now asleep, enjoying their last moment of relaxation before the first challenge began. Gengar and Gardevoir cackled quietly to themselves as they crept into the center of the campsite, air horns in hand.

From inside the cabins, the campers were immediately awoken to the sound of two air horns blaring loudly. Scraggy cursed angrily as he bumped his head on the bunk above his. "The hell was that?" the lizard muttered groggily.

Excadrill hopped down from the top bunk; to his teammates' surprise, he didn't seem tired in the slightest. "It appears the hosts are trying to get our attention," Excadrill informed Scraggy, peering out the window to see the hosts standing there.

"Yeah, no shit," Scraggy groaned irritably. He shot the mole an irritated glare before adjusting his position in bed so he could also see out the window.

Excadrill took a few steps toward the door. "It is probably in our best interest not to keep them waiting," he stated matter-of-factly. "I'll give you all a few minutes to get yourselves ready before we head out."

"Urgh," Zubat groaned sleepily. "I need at least six more hours."

Excadrill frowned at Zubat's comment, but Omastar was already crawling down from his bed. "C'mon, guys, this will be fun!" Omastar said cheerfully. He stood by Excadrill at the door. "It's our first challenge! Aren't you excited?"

"No," said Scraggy crossly. "We were supposed to do the challenge in the morning, weren't we?"

"Technically, they just said we'd begin 'tomorrow,'" Sandslash stated, sitting up in bed. "And it's past midnight by now, so…"

"Oh, don't tell me you're actually defending them," Scraggy said, shooting Sandslash a sharp look. Sandslash merely shrugged in response. "Well, screw this. I'm going back to bed."

The agitated lizard flopped back onto his bed dramatically, pulling the pillow over his head to block out any sound. Omastar laughed brightly and made his way over next to Scraggy's bunk.

"That's no way to feel on your second day here! Let me cure those island blues with a song!" Omastar offered with a grin. "Ohhhhhh, when you're feeling down, just turn that frown—!"

"NO SONGS," Scraggy snapped sharply. Omastar laughed heartily and stopped singing as quickly as he had begun. Fortunately, his singing seemed to have awoken the rest of his cabin-mates; Politoed donned his hat and drowsily got out of bed, though he seemed much less charismatic than usual in his mere half-awakened state.

Excadrill pushed open the door to the Killer Basculin's side of the male cabin to see the other campers beginning to file out as well. Seedot was the first one out from the Spindas' side of the cabin, although he didn't look particularly thrilled to be up this early. Feraligatr walked out after Seedot, though had a bit of difficulty squeezing through the doorway. Even though the large croc was able to fit quite comfortably inside the cabin, the doorway was a bit of a tricky matter, being too short for him to walk through normally.

Drapion charged out of the female Spindas' cabin, casting frantic glances around in all directions. "WHERE IN THE DEVIL DID THAT INFERNAL HORN SOUND FROM?" she shouted. "ARE WE UNDER ATTACK FROM THE NORTH?"

"Drapion, quit shouting!" Raichu called from inside the cabin. "Some of us are still trying to sleep in here!"

"THE TIME FOR SLEEP IS OVER! WE MUST GO ON THE OFFENSIVE BEFORE THEY TAKE US BY SURPRISE!" Drapion shouted back. "FETCH YOUR WEAPONS, MY SISTERS IN ARMS! THIS IS OUR LAST STAND!"

"Whoa, whoa, this is nothing like that!" Gengar announced clearly, waving his hands in front of her. "It's time for your first challenge!"

"Ah, yes. That makes a great deal more sense," Drapion said, twitching violently. "Proceed."

By this time, the rest of the campers were all filing slowly out of their cabins. Gengar and Gardevoir gestured for the campers to follow them to the cafeteria, and eventually all of them arrived. The campers situated themselves at the tables in similar formations to what they had done the previous day; it seemed like most of them were hesitant to stray away from the few other campers they had gotten to know.

Gengar cleared his throat. "Now that we've gotten your attention, it's time for us to begin!" he said. "As many of you have surely guessed by now, it's time for us to begin your first challenge!"

"Really? I never would've guessed," Swadloon said sarcastically. Despite her usual snarkiness, the bug did appear tired; the lack of sleep had evidently impacted her on a physical level.

"Why, yes, Swadloon. It is that time," Gengar said, not bothered by Swadloon's sarcasm. "Gardevoir and I put a great deal of thought into what we could do to make this entertaining for us as hosts, you as contestants, and the viewers as...viewers. And eventually, we settled on this!"

Gardevoir, who had briefly stepped out of the cafeteria to fetch something, now walked back inside, pushing a covered object along in front of her. Despite the white cloth that completely obscured the mystery object, the campers could tell it was shaped like a wheel.

"Behold!" Gengar chanted proudly. "The Wheel of Challenges!"

Gardevoir dramatically tore the cloth away from the wheel, revealing it to be covered in numerous wooden panels along its outer rim. Each of the panels seemed to be concealing something underneath it.

"Wheel of Challenges?" Abra asked hesitantly. "Do you mean to say that our first challenge is random?"

"Don't be silly, Abra. Of course I don't mean to say that," said Gengar dismissively, shaking his head. "I mean to say that ALL of your challenges will be random!" he announced enthusiastically.

This announcement piqued the interest of the campers, many of whom had expected the show to be much more structured than this. Gardevoir took this as her cue to continue the explanation, briefly clearing her throat before beginning. "Here's how this will work," she began. "Each time there's a challenge, we'll spin the wheel to determine what it will be. Once the challenge is decided, all of the campers will participate in the challenge until the winners are determined."

Metang yawned loudly as Gardevoir explained the rules. "Obviously we don't want you to repeat any challenges either, so once a challenge is picked by the wheel, we'll remove the panel containing that challenge so it can't be selected again. This is how we'll begin every morning on the island until there's simply no more challenges to be done."

"That's very interesting," said Clefable, seeming genuinely intrigued by the idea. "I can tell that you two put a lot of thought into this."

"Well, it's only one of many great ideas that we have in store!" Gengar said, giving Clefable an appreciative smile. "Does anyone here have any questions about how this works?"

Ninetales raised a paw hesitantly, and Gengar nodded at her. "Will we have any idea of what the challenges are ahead of time?" she asked.

"You'll only be informed of what each challenge is once it gets selected by the wheel," Gengar answered. "That pretty much levels the playing field for everyone, since nobody knows what to expect. Any other questions?"

"Let's say, just hypothetically, that someone were to get injured on the show," Cherubi said slowly. "Is there a place on the island where they can receive treatment and recover?"

"Yes, we're obligated by law to provide basic medical care for each of you," Gengar stated. Cherubi let out a sigh of relief upon hearing this. "Does anyone else actually have any challenge-related questions?"

"Um, when do we get served breakfast?" Shuppet asked timidly.

"That's not a challenge-related question, Shuppet," said Gengar, shaking his head. "I don't have to answer that one."

Shuppet looked down in embarrassment as some of the other campers glanced at him. "Maybe I just shouldn't talk," he muttered to himself. "Yeah, that sounds like a good plan."

"If no one has any more questions, I suppose we can move along rather nicely," Gengar commented. "So on a completely unrelated note, we'll be serving you breakfast before the challenge begins!"

Gardevoir had stepped behind the counter of the cafeteria and was now lifting up several trays that were covered in some type of mysterious gray mush. Gengar gestured for the campers to go up and get some. "Eat up! The challenge will be revealed in a half hour, so be quick about it."

Monferno was the first one to step up to the counter. He hesitantly held out a tray, and Gardevoir plopped some unidentifiable mush onto it. Monferno eyed it suspiciously but went over to sit at one of the tables, too afraid to say anything.

Swadloon, on the other hand, was not afraid to say anything. "What _is_ this?" she asked as Gardevoir tossed some mush onto her tray.

"Hey, I get paid to make food," Gardevoir said. "But I don't get paid to make food well."

Swadloon blinked. "Fair enough," the bug muttered, waddling off to sit across from Monferno. Gardevoir served some mush to Metang, who took it with a disgusted look on his face.

 **####**

" **My opinion on this place has not changed much yet," Excadrill confessed. "Breakfast was a bit of an unpleasant surprise, however. It's a good thing I'm a Steel-type, because I'm certain this could have otherwise poisoned me."**

 **####**

 **Cherubi moaned in discomfort. "I think I have food poisoning," she managed to get out before vomiting in the toilet.**

 **####**

The campers were beginning to settle in, situating themselves at the tables by team. Most of the Spindas sat toward the right side of the cafeteria, while the Basculin members sat on the left. Omastar laughed good-naturedly as Scraggy choked on his breakfast, which earned him a deathly glare from the lizard.

Feraligatr prodded the mystery mush with a spoon timidly. "Not hungry, big guy?" Metang asked, sitting down next to him.

"I think I've lost my appetite," Feraligatr said, watching as Abra raced over to the trash can and began retching loudly.

"What a great way to start the day," Seedot muttered to himself. The little Grass-type was seated just across the table from Feraligatr and Metang. "Can't wait to see what the hosts have in store for us."

"I can. This place is awful," Metang said bluntly.

"That was sarcasm," Seedot clarified. "Regardless, the first challenge is almost upon us. Better prepare yourselves."

Shuppet swallowed nervously and shoveled some more mush into his mouth.

 **####**

At the other end of the Spindas' table, the female members of the team were chatting. Raichu cast the occasional glance at Seedot to see what he was doing, but the acorn just sat there eating mush and looking bored the whole time.

Drifblim set down her tray on the table with a light clatter. Swadloon and Dragonair glanced over at her. "Hello," Drifblim said to them, noticing that she had their attention.

"Hey. Good morning, by the way," Swadloon replied.

"To you as well," Drifblim said. "I must admit I'm curious about the way challenges are going to be run around here. Have either of you heard anything from the hosts regarding challenges on this show?"

"Uh, no. Haven't talked to either of them much since yesterday," Swadloon said. "Well, I guess I complained about breakfast to Gardevoir, but she didn't seem to care."

Drifblim didn't look surprised by this. Then again, she didn't look surprised by anything. She either had difficulty expressing emotions or she didn't have any.

"I've been taking notes about the island while everything is still fresh in my mind," Drifblim revealed to Swadloon and Dragonair, pulling out her journal and sliding it across the table for them to see. "This book contains compiled observations of all of the campers here, mostly about members of the opposing team. I've been trying to figure out what weaknesses they may have, as exploiting those weaknesses will likely be the easiest way to make them lose challenges."

Swadloon flipped through the pages of the small book. Only the first few were written in, yet Drifblim had taken some surprisingly detailed notes on each camper. Swadloon was a little put out by the fact that she was labeled as 'not a threat,' but she decided to take that as a good sign.

Dragonair peered over at Drifblim's notes as well. Certain members of the Basculin team were labeled as threats—Politoed, Clefable, and Aipom were among the ones on the other team that Drifblim seemed to consider threatening. "So what do you plan to do with this?" the Dragon-type asked.

"Nothing yet," Drifblim said, tucking the little book away before any of her other teammates saw it. "But the purpose of showing you this was to give you some incentive to work with me. I'm proposing an alliance between the three of us."

"Why us?" asked Swadloon dubiously. Having someone ask for an alliance this early in the game seemed a bit suspicious.

"You two seemed dependable from your behavior yesterday. I figure that neither of you would alert the rest of the team of my offer, even should you choose to decline it," Drifblim said. Her eyes were fixated on Swadloon, and she didn't blink. Maybe she couldn't. Her face remained a mystery to be solved another time.

Drifblim continued in a hushed voice. "And I suppose, in truth, it was more a matter of narrowing down my options. I'm not familiar enough with any of the males on this team, and the other three campers in our cabin are not ideal choices," Drifblim explained. "Raichu is far too impulsive to be trusted, and I hope I don't need to explain why inviting Drapion into this alliance is a terrible idea. Mimikyu is a bit of a wild card; I'm not sure whether or not she can be trusted, so I'm not taking the risk."

The Blimp Pokemon's eyes settled on Dragonair. "And that brings us to where we are now. Do either of you accept this offer?"

A long silence passed between the three female Spindas as Drifblim awaited a response. The only sound that could be heard was the background chatter of the other campers.

"I'm in," Dragonair concluded after a moment of deliberation. "Three Pokemon have more voting power than two. And two still have more than one, if you're not in," Dragonair added, looking at Swadloon.

Swadloon considered her options and shrugged. "I'm in," she agreed after a moment's hesitation. "But only on the condition that I can still leave whenever I want."

"Of course. I don't intend to control your every action in the game. I'm only looking for your cooperation in eliminating other contestants," Drifblim reasoned. She got up from the table. "Thank you for your time."

Dragonair and Swadloon watched as Drifblim left the cafeteria. Dragonair cast a glance at Swadloon and then went to dump her breakfast in the trash.

 **####**

" **Drifblim doesn't strike me as the backstabber type, which is why I joined," Dragonair confessed. "That said, I will have to keep a closer eye on her now."**

 **####**

Aipom was shoveling the breakfast mush into her mouth at a frightening rate. Sandslash watched, astonished, as she dumped the entire tray's worth of content into her mouth at once and swallowed.

"All right! How many of you said I couldn't finish it all at once?" Aipom asked smugly. Sandslash, Ninetales, and Abra each raised a hand. Aipom rubbed her hands together greedily as each of them handed her five Poke.

"Well, this blows. Here for less than a day and I'm already losing money," Abra joked. Zubat snickered from a few seats down the table.

Aipom burped loudly and rested her head on the table. "Wake me when it's challenge time!" she shouted. Clefable eyed the monkey disapprovingly. Aipom seemed to be rather noisy and impulsive, two qualities that didn't impress Clefable.

Politoed removed his top hat and turned it upside down. He pulled out a bag of chips from inside and opened it up, tossing a few chips in his mouth.

"Where'd you get those?" Ninetales asked, noticing the chips in Politoed's hand.

Politoed smiled at her and turned his hat upside down again, revealing a stack of four more bags of snacks inside. "The hat's not just for show," he told her with a smirk.

"Mind if I take one? I don't think I can bear to eat another bite of this," said Ninetales, gesturing to her breakfast. Politoed shrugged and held out the hat for her. Ninetales pulled out a bag of gummy Wurmples and began eating those.

 **####**

" **Politoed's a bit strange. I won't deny that," Ninetales said. "But I don't think he's a bad guy altogether. He's actually been really nice to everyone so far."**

 **####**

" **Winning the favor of my teammates when possible should hopefully help in the long run," Politoed said. "I believe I may have alienated a few of them already, such as Scraggy and Sandslash, but I'd much rather make allies when I can."**

 **####**

Gengar appeared before the campers after they had all finished eating. "Listen up, campers! Your first challenge is about to begin!" the host announced.

Scraggy gave Gengar an irritated stare. "Oy. You should get some better grub around here. This stuff has to break several safety regulations," he said, holding up his breakfast tray.

"It's time to spin the wheel!" Gengar said enthusiastically, completely ignoring Scraggy's complaint. The campers all watched in anticipation as Gengar gave Gardevoir the signal to spin the wheel. The co-host forcefully spun the wheel, sending it rotating around several times before finally coming to a halt. The arrow at the top of the wheel pointed to one of the covered panels, which Gardevoir then lifted to reveal the challenge.

"Your first challenge is…" Gardevoir began, but Gengar cut her off.

"Ooh, Fortress Frenzy! That's a fun one!" Gengar exclaimed eagerly. "Rather than a team building exercise, it's more of a...team _destroying_ exercise, centered around sabotaging the opposing team!"

"That doesn't explain the challenge at all," Metang pointed out.

Gengar made a frown at Metang. "Well, maybe I planned to explain the challenge once we were finished setting it up, Mr. Sucky Spinda." That seemed to shut Metang up.

"Team destroying exercises do sound more fun than team building ones," Cherubi commented to Abra. "Or more exciting, at the very least."

"They also sound more dangerous," Abra said back. "The fact that they mentioned sabotage already makes me think this challenge will require a bit of strategy."

"I'm not scared of a little strategy!" Cherubi said optimistically. "I am a little scared of everything else that could possibly go wrong, though."

Abra couldn't figure out how to respond to that comment, so she just nodded awkwardly.

 **####**

" **I like Cherubi. She seems pretty cool so far, and I've talked to her the most out of anyone on my team," Abra admitted. "But I'm really not sure what to make of her bad luck. Is she actually cursed or something?"**

 **Abra shook her head quickly. "No, curses aren't real. Be rational, Abra," she told herself.**

 **####**

"If everyone would please follow us, we'll show you what your challenge will actually be like," Gengar explained. The campers stood up and shuffled out the door after Gengar and Gardevoir. The two hosts led them through a wide path in the woods until they reached a sizeable clearing.

In the middle of the clearing, two forts had been constructed from stones. The forts were impressively large; they towered above the tops of the trees, casting shadows over most of the clearing. The two forts also notably stood opposite each other, which gave some campers a clue about what was in store for them.

Some of the campers still hadn't caught on, however. "What's with the forts?" Monferno asked casually while pointing at them.

"Allow me to explain!" Gengar offered. "In this challenge, each team will get a fort! That fort is yours to protect, and it is essentially the most important part of this challenge!"

"The goal of the challenge is to destroy the other team's fort," Gardevoir continued for him. "Obviously, you want to do so before they manage to destroy yours. The team who managed to destroy the other team's fort first will win, and the other team loses."

Drifblim's eyes flickered back and forth between the two forts curiously. The fort on the left had fewer walls, and the walls were much shorter than the other fort. However, the walls were also thicker, providing an extra layer of protection. The fort on the right was taller and had more walls, but its walls appeared thin by comparison.

"As you can see, each fort is a little different," Gardevoir said. "We'll allow each team to pick which fort they want. If both teams pick the same fort, we'll decide who gets it with a good old-fashioned coin flip."

"Coin flips aren't actually fair, you know," Metang interrupted. "The odds of one side winning are greater than the other, depending on which side is—"

"That's enough out of you, mister," Gengar said, giving Metang a distasteful glare. Metang mumbled the rest of his sentence to himself bitterly, giving the host an equally dissatisfied look.

"Anyways, pick the fort you want," Gardevoir told the campers. "Discuss it with your teams, and we'll start in a few minutes."

 **####**

" **The strategic element of this challenge lies in which fort we pick," Politoed mused. "And also in how we attack the other team's fort, of course. I'll admit that this isn't what I had in mind for a first challenge; they've come up with something unexpected."**

 **The frog smiled at the camera after a moment. "But I'm confident that we can pull through."**

 **####**

" **I tried to prepare for this show as best as I could before coming here, but this? This came completely out of the blue," Sandslash said, scratching his head gently. "Really makes you wonder what else is hidden on that challenge wheel."**

 **####**

"Choosing the fort with the better defenses is our best bet," Excadrill stated, quickly taking charge since no one else had spoken up. "We want to pick the one that will be easier to guard, since the other team will be trying to take it down."

"Yeah, we all figured that out a while ago, genius," Scraggy snorted. "Look, unless you've got some brilliant plan, there's no need to state the obvious."

Even though what he had said was true, many of the Killer Basculin felt uneasy about Scraggy's hostile attitude. If he didn't start contributing to the team, he could be a potential liability.

"Well, how about this?" Sandslash began, stepping forward. "Why don't we go for the shorter fort? I know it looks weaker from the outside, but the walls appear to be reinforced. It might be worthwhile choosing that one."

"Yeah, it might be," Scraggy scoffed. "But what if it isn't? What if the walls are just as weak as they look from the outside? We're better off picking the big fort, since we at least know what we're getting with that one."

"You can't be serious," said Sandslash, glaring at Scraggy irritably. "Why would we choose that one? It's too tall! A single strong hit to the bottom would send the entire thing crumbling down! That's a terrible idea."

"And a single strong hit wouldn't take the other one down?" Scraggy challenged him. "That fort's got fewer walls. If we get hit hard, there's no coming back from that."

"Um, guys, let's be reasonable here," Zubat piped up hesitantly. Both Scraggy and Sandslash gave him hostile glares, and the bat immediately regretted his decision. "We should just, um…"

"Just what?" asked Scraggy, crossing his arms defiantly. Sandslash didn't look like he wanted to listen to Zubat, either.

Zubat felt himself sweating nervously under pressure. "J-just...um…"

"Let's pick the tall one," Ninetales said, trying to defuse the situation before it could escalate further. Zubat looked relieved to have the spotlight taken off of him, but Sandslash threw Ninetales a dirty look. "I know you don't want to, Sandslash, but Scraggy's right this time. At least we know what we're getting by picking that one."

"Yeah," Scraggy said, giving Ninetales an appreciative look. "See, it's not a bad idea."

Sandslash felt numerous pairs of eyes on him, and he finally sighed in defeat. "Fine. Do whatever you want," he said bitterly. "Don't come crying to me if we lose."

Aipom chuckled awkwardly as the discussion drew to a close. "Well, that went horribly!" she said to Omastar.

"We'll be fine," he said, giving her a bright grin. Aipom giggled and gave him a high-five.

 **####**

Meanwhile, the Sucky Spindas seemed to be having an easier time deciding which fort to choose. Surprisingly, it was Drifblim who spoke first.

"We should choose the small fort," she said. Monferno fixed her with a curious look; he hadn't expected her to take charge, since she usually seemed reserved around everyone else. "It has reinforced walls, which will make it easier to defend."

"Okay, that's one vote for the small fort," Raichu stated. "Does anyone want to take the bigger fort, or are we all going to agree on this one?"

"I feel like we're probably safer behind a bigger fort," Shuppet mumbled nervously. "But I don't really know, I guess."

Raichu was surprised to hear Shuppet speak his mind, but she nodded. "Okay, that's one for the big fort," she counted. "Anyone else for the big fort?"

A few more hands went up. Drapion raised both of her claws, followed by Monferno and Feraligatr raising their hands.

"I'm in support of the big fort as well," Seedot added, since he didn't have any hands to raise.

Raichu gave Seedot a disapproving look before finishing the mental math in her head. "That's five, which is less than half of us," she said. "So we're going to go for the small fort."

"Yeah! I wanted the small fort all along!" said the Pikachu puppet goofily. Mimikyu giggled to herself, and Dragonair couldn't help but smile as well. Mimikyu's act, while a bit peculiar, was also rather endearing at times.

"All right. Let's win this challenge and show those Basculin who's boss!" Raichu said, pumping her fist in the air. A few of her teammates cheered along with her, though some like Seedot stayed silent.

"It looks like everyone's finished," Gardevoir mentioned to Gengar, and the two of them walked forward to address the campers once more.

"So, which forts have you decided on?" asked Gengar with a grin. A representative from each team stepped forward to tell him their answers.

"We've decided on the tall fort," Politoed stated calmly.

"And we want the short one," Raichu said confidently.

Gengar clapped his hands together. "Wonderful! So we don't have to do the coin flip!" he said. "Okay, everyone, take the side that your team belongs on. It's time to get this show on the road!"

"Remember, all you have to do to win is destroy the other team's fort," Gardevoir stated. "Good luck to all of you."

Gengar pulled a whistle out of nowhere and blew it, initiating the challenge. Both teams scrambled towards their respective forts, but the action died down when they got there.

"So…" Zubat began awkwardly as the Killer Basculin gathered behind the menacing walls of the large fort. "What's our plan again?"

"We don't have one," Sandslash said, glaring at Scraggy. "Unless Scraggy over here came up with something without telling us."

Scraggy scowled and flipped Sandslash off, causing Sandslash to take a menacing step toward Scraggy. "All right, listen here, you little—"

"Calm yourself, Sandslash," Excadrill stated, his tone as calm as ever. "We must act as one unit during challenges. Whether we dislike one another or not cannot come before our objective."

Sandslash turned his furious gaze on Excadrill. "Well, if you want to point fingers for the lack of team spirit, why don't you look at him?" Sandslash growled, pointing at Scraggy. "I'm at least TRYING to help us win."

"Really? It looks to me like you're just trying to start a fight," Scraggy said. His eyes met with Sandslash's, and the air immediately became heavier. Abra scratched at her neck uncomfortably.

But the Killer Basculin had no time left to resolve their conflict, as a powerful Hydro Pump attack from across the clearing struck the center of their fort, spraying dust down on them and reminding them that they were in the middle of a challenge. Clefable glanced across the clearing through a crack in the fort and saw Feraligatr standing in front of his team's fort, preparing another powerful water attack.

"Way to go, Feraligatr!" Swadloon cheered him on. "Hit them with another one!"

"That was so cool!" Mimikyu's Pikachu puppet giggled happily.

Her Pikachu puppet stopped wiggling suddenly, and she continued talking in a normal voice. "Feraligatr, you're so strong!" Mimikyu praised him. "Do it again!"

"I'm really not that strong, guys," Feraligatr said modestly. "I don't even train as often as I should."

"You don't actually think that, do you?" Raichu asked him. "You were able to put a dent in that fort with a single Hydro Pump! That takes some serious strength."

She gave him a confident nod, and Feraligatr gave her a small smile in return. "I guess so," he admitted. "Should I do it again?"

"Yes, but we have to be quick," Drifblim said quietly, floating forward. "There's no telling when the other team will recover. We either hit them while they're down, or we risk having them retaliate against us."

"Makes sense to me," Feraligatr agreed obediently. He charged up another Hydro Pump and fired it at the Killer Basculin's fort.

The Killer Basculin were prepared this time, however. "Omastar," Politoed said, getting his teammate's attention. "Would you do me a favor and launch me?"

"Launch you?" Omastar repeated, puzzled. "Like, over the fort?"

"Yes, please," Politoed clarified with a kind smile. Omastar beamed at Politoed and lifted him up before sending him soaring over the top of the fort and down onto the other side.

Politoed landed in front of the fort gracefully and watched as Feraligatr blasted another Hydro Pump directly at him. "This should be fun," said the frog Pokemon with a smirk.

Both teams stared in awe as Politoed stood there, blocking the attack from hitting the Basculin's fort. Raichu's eyes widened as Politoed simply absorbed the water into his body, shaking off a Hydro Pump like it was nothing.

Feraligatr stared at the little frog in shock. "We may need a new plan," he said, turning around to face Drifblim. The Blimp Pokemon didn't seem fazed at all; if anything, the fact that Politoed had countered their approach only seemed to motivate her further.

"If they're sending in Politoed to counter Feraligatr, we just need to take care of Politoed in order to move on," Drifblim reasoned. "As a Water-type, he'll be weak against attacks from you three."

Drifblim gestured to Seedot, Swadloon, and Raichu as she said this. Seedot and Raichu looked mutually unhappy to be grouped together, but Raichu sighed and nodded. "She's right," Raichu admitted. "We'll go in and take out Politoed. That should give Feraligatr enough of an opening to fire off another Hydro Pump, unless they pull something else."

"Speak for yourself. I didn't agree to fight Politoed," Seedot argued.

"What, is it your goal to be the first one eliminated?" Raichu asked him threateningly. Seedot stared at her with a bored expression. "If you don't help this team, most of us won't take kindly to it. If that's your mission, so be it; I'd be happy to send you home and stay another day."

"That's not…" Seedot drifted off as he felt everyone looking at him expectantly. "Okay, fine. I'll do it. Are you happy now?"

"I'd be happier if you were on the other team, but this is a start," Raichu responded coldly.

"If you three all attack Politoed at once, I doubt he'll stand a chance," Drifblim reminded them. "We shouldn't waste any more time. Get out there."

"I mean, if we all somehow manage to screw this up, then Politoed must seriously be a threat," Swadloon said. "I think we'll be fine. He seems pretty harmless."

"Let's get this over with," Seedot muttered, dreading what awaited him. Raichu shoved him out from behind the fort and looked across the clearing for herself; it seemed the only contestant the Killer Basculin had sent outside the fort was Politoed. Raichu's eyes narrowed; there was no way the other team would let them win this easily.

Politoed hummed an upbeat tune to himself as he watched Swadloon, Seedot, and Raichu approach from across the field. They drew closer cautiously, not committing to an offensive strategy yet as they hadn't figured out the other team's angle. Politoed tapped his cane on the ground rhythmically as he waited patiently.

"This is a terrible idea," Metang remarked as Raichu finally led Seedot and Swadloon in a charge toward Politoed.

Drifblim turned to face the metal Pokemon. "How so?" she asked.

"Well, the other team's probably going to ambush those three once they get close enough," Metang pointed out. "By the time they get close enough to Politoed to attack, they'll be close enough for the Basculin to attack them."

"Hm. I hadn't considered that," Drifblim admitted. "You should have said something earlier. I would have listened to your input."

"Well, you'd be the first," Metang said sourly. Drifblim's expression didn't change. Then again, it never really did.

 **####**

" **Metang isn't afraid to speak his mind, which I consider to be a valuable trait in a teammate. Granted, I wish he would express himself at more opportune times, but he seems like an intelligent individual," Drifblim said eloquently. "I can picture a few ways in which he might be useful."**

 **####**

" **Drifblim was so quiet on the first day, and all of a sudden it seems like she's trying to run our team," Metang muttered. "Am I the only one who finds that odd?"**

 **####**

"Are you ready to taste defeat?" Raichu shouted, charging wildly at Politoed. The Frog Pokemon had not moved, which seemed like a red flag to Seedot; as much as he didn't care for Politoed, he knew the magician wasn't stupid enough to stand in the way of a direct attack.

Raichu leaped into the air, her cheeks crackling with electricity. She unleashed a wicked Thunderbolt attack that was aimed directly for Politoed.

But before the powerful bolt could hit, two figures burst forth from the earth. Sandslash and Excadrill landed in front of Politoed, shielding him from the attack. Excadrill wore the same serious expression he had kept since he arrived, but Raichu noticed a fire in Sandslash's eyes that had not been there yesterday.

She barely had any time to wonder what it was about before Sandslash jumped into the air after Raichu, lunging at her with his claws extended. She fell back to the ground and rolled away, dodging his attack. Sandslash landed after her and sharpened his claws intimidatingly, as if daring Seedot or Swadloon to try the same thing.

"Oy, Feraligatr!" Swadloon shouted, turning around to face her team's fort. The big croc noticed her calling his name and waved. "Now would be a great time for some more Hydro Pumps!"

Feraligatr nodded and charged up a third Hydro Pump in his mouth. He released the blast, this time aiming for Sandslash and Excadrill rather than their team's fort. The two Ground-types nimbly dodged out of the way, but this gave Raichu an opening to strike Politoed.

"Discharge!" she shouted, this time sending out a massive burst of electricity rather than a concentrated beam. Politoed's cocky demeanor disappeared as he saw Raichu preparing to attack, and he was unable to dodge in time. He took the brunt of her Discharge, dropping to one knee. Politoed let out a gasp as he felt the electricity coursing through his body; his entire body felt numb.

"Politoed's getting smacked around out there," Ninetales said to her teammates as she kept watch through a crack in the fort. "I think we should send out some more Pokemon to help him."

"Yeah, but who would we send?" Clefable asked, gesturing to the rest of their team. Omastar and Aipom were doing some kind of silly jig in the corner, Abra and Cherubi were quietly talking, Scraggy was standing alone against a wall, and Zubat was...blind. "Most of us are hardly capable of doing anything."

"Maybe they're not, but we are," Ninetales said, gesturing to herself and Clefable. "It's possible that we may have to take this into our own hands to win."

Clefable crossed her arms uncertainly. "Okay, but...let's not resort to that yet," Clefable said, not wanting to leave the safety of the fort.

"If you say so," Ninetales agreed, but she looked like she wanted to head out. Clefable peered through a tiny crack to see Politoed getting whacked on the head by Raichu's Iron Tail. The frog toppled over, unconscious.

 **####**

" **It seems my performance today was unfortunately cut short," said Politoed, nervously fidgeting with his cane. "I do hope my team isn't mad about this. I'm normally much better in a fight, but that Raichu is something else."**

 **####**

Swadloon rolled around across the grassy field, rapidly evading multiple strikes from Excadrill. Excadrill seemed mildly annoyed that he had not managed to hit her once yet, but he was determined, if nothing else.

Meanwhile, Raichu had taken a moment to celebrate her victory as she stood over Politoed. "Ha ha ha," she laughed cockily. "That's what you get when you mess with the Raichu."

WHAM!

Raichu was immediately knocked to the ground by Sandslash, who had not forgotten who his primary target was. Raichu was the biggest threat among the campers that the Sucky Spindas had sent; not only was she strong, she was without a doubt the fastest among them. Raichu stared up at Sandslash from the ground as he watched her warily.

"Not going to strike again? What's the matter, you scared?" Raichu taunted him with a grin. Sandslash's rage mounted, and he impaled the ground with one claw as Raichu nimbly rolled out of the way once more.

Raichu knew that most of her moves would have no effect on Sandslash; he was immune to damage from her electric attacks, and Iron Tail wouldn't do much against a defensive Pokemon like him. She was about to call for another Hydro Pump from Feraligatr when a barrage of seeds pummeled Sandslash in the chest.

"You're welcome," Seedot drawled as he walked past her, approaching Sandslash. Raichu was grateful for his assistance, but neglected to thank him anyway; she was still at odds with him, despite being on the same team.

However, Sandslash was not down for the count. He quickly recovered from the Bullet Seed that had struck him and lunged toward Seedot. The acorn wasn't able to move particularly fast, so he simply allowed Sandslash to tackle him to the ground. Sandslash struck Seedot with his claws several times consecutively, rendering him unconscious.

The Spindas' team watched as Seedot was taken out and Swadloon continued to dodge Excadrill's blows. "We need to send more Pokemon out there," Drifblim observed quickly. "To counter their Ground-types, it may be a good idea that I go. Monferno, your fire attacks may also be of use in defeating Excadrill."

"Right," said Monferno, nodding. "I'll help Swadloon. You go finish off Sandslash."

Drifblim floated out of the fort through its open top; this way she had a clearer view of the battlefield. Currently, Raichu and Sandslash were exchanging blows, though the way things were going, Raichu was dodging most of Sandslash's. Monferno was running over to help get Excadrill away from Swadloon, which meant that now was a good opportunity for Drifblim to participate in the action.

She drifted down to Sandslash and Raichu carefully, so as not to alert Sandslash of her presence. Raichu caught sight of Drifblim descending behind Sandslash and decided to distract him to give Drifblim an opportunity to strike.

Sandslash lunged at Raichu once more, but a cold wind from behind knocked him to the ground. He immediately rolled over and pushed himself to his feet to see his new opponent; it was none other than Drifblim, preparing another Icy Wind attack.

Sandslash's brow furrowed in frustration, and he dove at Drifblim, claws extended. Drifblim evaded him, drifting to the right in an instant; she was astonishingly nimble, even if she appeared to be an easy target. A second Icy Wind threw Sandslash backwards into his own fort. He struggled to get up, seeing Raichu and Drifblim both closing in on him now.

But the Killer Basculin were not finished yet. Ninetales, fed up with waiting, darted out from behind the fort and blasted both Drifblim and Raichu with a Dazzling Gleam, blinding both of them temporarily. "Sandslash, get up!" Ninetales ordered abruptly.

Sandslash stabbed the earth and stood back up. "Well, you certainly took your time," he said, giving her a glare. "Where's the rest of the team when we need them?"

"Inside the fort. We can't go on an all-out offensive," Ninetales reminded him. "That's too big of a risk."

"We're going to lose at this rate if we don't do something," Sandslash growled. "Get them out here and let's finish this challenge already."

Ninetales frowned, but she nodded and returned to the safety of the fort. Drifblim and Raichu had recovered by now, but Sandslash tackled Raichu to the ground and started slashing at her viciously, determined to put a dent in the other team's strategy.

"Ah! Get off!" Raichu shouted, kicking at Sandslash from underneath him. Drifblim blasted another wave of cold air at Sandslash, and he rolled off of Raichu. The two Spinda girls could already tell his stamina was low; another attack or two and he should be down.

Meanwhile, Monferno and Swadloon were having a tricky time handling Excadrill. The mole Pokemon was clearly no stranger to the battlefield, as he effortlessly employed maneuvers that Swadloon and Monferno were unable to keep up with. Excadrill clasped his bladed arms together and tunneled underground, out of sight of the two Spindas.

"Where'd he go?" Monferno asked Swadloon frantically, scanning the ground for any signs of a slight tremor that would give away Excadrill's location. He had no such luck, as their opponent was stealthy. Moments later Excadrill burst from the ground behind Monferno, ramming the flame-tailed monkey to the ground.

Swadloon sent a flurry of razor-sharp leaves at Excadrill in retaliation, but Excadrill deflected the projectiles with his blades. Monferno took this opportunity to ram his fist into Excadrill's face, sending the mole toppling backwards as he tried to reorient himself. Monferno grinned and engulfed his fists in flames; now the tide of battle was turning in his favor.

As soon as Excadrill's senses returned to normal, Monferno launched himself at the mole. He latched onto Excadrill's shoulders and started wailing on him with fiery fists. Excadrill held up his blades to block the incoming attacks, but this gave Swadloon an opportunity to close in on him and attack with another Razor Leaf. Excadrill felt the sharp leaves scratching at his sides, but he kept up his blades to block Monferno's more threatening assault.

Monferno was about to try a new approach to get past Excadrill's defenses when a sudden blast of water hit Excadrill from behind, knocking both Excadrill and Monferno to the ground. Monferno pushed the unconscious Excadrill aside to see Feraligatr giving him a thumbs-up from across the field. Monferno grinned and gave him a thumbs-up in return.

Drifblim floated higher into the air once more, deciding to let Raichu deal with Sandslash. Now that she was within close proximity of the fort, another option had presented itself. A single Explosion attack at such close range would almost certainly decimate the Basculin's fort. It wasn't an ideal plan, but perhaps it could work. Drifblim closed in on the fort, thinking that she had won until she saw what awaited her inside.

"NOW!" shouted Aipom abruptly as soon as Drifblim appeared above them. Zubat opened his mouth, and a loud screeching sound was emitted. Drifblim couldn't react in time, and the noise disoriented her; she came crashing down into the fort, where the remaining Killer Basculin surrounded her.

"Well, well. We caught ourselves a Sucky Spinda," Scraggy commented casually, glancing at Drifblim's fallen form. "Still think we can salvage this challenge?"

"If we get out there now and fight back, we may have a chance," Ninetales told him. "Excadrill was holding up fine earlier, but Sandslash won't be able to hold them off for much longer. Now's our chance."

"I guess we don't have a choice," Clefable sighed, peering through a crack in the fort. "Sandslash just lost to Raichu, and Excadrill's down already."

"THEN LET'S GET READY TO KICK SOME BUTT!" Aipom yelled, whipping her tail around like it was some kind of weapon. Omastar cheered enthusiastically next to her, beaming at Scraggy as the lizard gave them both a tired glare.

"I...think I may have a plan, actually," Abra spoke up. All eyes turned to her, and she hesitantly continued. "We'll need to draw out the rest of the Spindas somehow. Anything would work, really—just some kind of distraction to make them leave the fort."

"Okay," said Clefable, crossing her arms. "And how do you propose we do that?"

"Well, Aipom is loud and distracting," Abra offered. "I think she'll suffice."

"Yeah!" Aipom agreed willingly, pumping her fists up and down eagerly. "Omastar, you wanna come with?"

"Totally! That'd be super rad," Omastar nodded without hesitation. The two of them scrambled out from behind the fort before Abra could even finish her thought.

Abra glanced outside after them. "I guess that means we're doing it now," she muttered. "Okay, Scraggy, I'll need you with me."

"What, me? Why?" Scraggy asked, genuinely surprised. "I take it you're not just bringing me along to have company, right?"

Loud whooping noises could be heard from outside as Aipom and Omastar tried to get the other team's attention. "Just trust me on this one," Abra told Scraggy. "You know a move like Rock Smash or Brick Break, right?"

"Sure," Scraggy said, fixing Abra with a curious look. "But you better tell me what this is about as soon as we enact this little plan of yours."

"In the meantime, um…" Abra said, glancing at Zubat, Cherubi, Ninetales, and Clefable. "You four can pretty much do whatever you want."

"Great. That basically means we do nothing," Clefable huffed. Zubat, on the other hand, didn't look too upset to hear this. Doing nothing was within his skillset.

 **####**

"They're taunting us!" Drapion hissed with a scowl as plain as day. "That little monkey is making a mockery of everything we stand for!"

She was referring to Aipom, who was indeed doing a dance that could be interpreted as a taunt to their team, but Shuppet glanced at Monferno instead, looking confused. Monferno didn't appear to be taunting their team, but then again, Drapion wasn't known for making sense.

Metang stared across the field and sighed. "So she is. Here's an idea: why don't you go out there and stop her?"

Drapion cackled madly and punched the inside of the fort. "PERHAPS I SHALL," she hissed ominously before skittering outside and charging headlong at the enemy fort.

"Um...was it really a good idea to send her out there alone?" Shuppet asked Metang hesitantly.

"What? No, of course not. I just wanted to get rid of her," Metang replied bluntly.

Shuppet stared at him blankly. "Oh. Uh, that makes sense. Right," the puppet muttered awkwardly. "Silly me."

 **####**

"CHAAAAARGE!" screamed Drapion, covering the length of the clearing in mere seconds. Monferno, Raichu, and Swadloon all moved out of her way as she ran wildly at Aipom and Omastar.

"Should we stop her?" Monferno muttered to Raichu. The electric mouse shrugged.

"I don't think we could stop her if we wanted to," Raichu admitted. She glanced at the Basculin's fort and shook her head. "And I don't think Drifblim's coming back out of their fort, either. We need a new course of action."

"They're not really doing a good job of defending their fort from the outside, though," Swadloon commented. "Couldn't we just go up and attack it now?"

"I don't think Aipom and Omastar are going to stop us," Monferno agreed. "We could probably pull this off."

"No," Raichu said, holding out an arm to stop Monferno. He gave her a quizzical look. "They're clearly meant as a diversion. Why else would the other team send them out defenseless like this?"

"Politoed was a diversion, too," Monferno pointed out. "We just have to go in and hope for the best."

Raichu withdrew her arm, and Monferno gently pushed past her. Swadloon shrugged and followed after him, rolling herself along the ground to move more quickly.

Raichu turned around and gave Feraligatr a signal with her hand. "KEEP UP THE HYDRO PUMPS!" Raichu called across the clearing. Feraligatr charged up another Hydro Pump and fired it.

More dust sprayed down onto the heads of the Killer Basculin. "Does anyone else have any brilliant plans?" Clefable asked hopefully. "Because only Drapion was dumb enough to fall for our decoys."

"Speaking of which, how's that going?" Scraggy muttered.

Clefable looked through the small crack in their fort to see Drapion and Aipom involved in some odd form of a wrestling match outside. Omastar was watching from the sidelines and cheering Aipom on, waving his appendages happily.

"Well, it's certainly got her distracted," Clefable sighed, shaking her head. "But if this fort takes any more Hydro Pumps, I feel like it's going to crumble."

"Knowing my luck, I'd say we're pretty fortunate that it hasn't collapsed already," Cherubi said brightly.

"So what do we do?" asked Zubat helplessly. "I don't want to lose the first challenge."

Abra frowned. "Okay, I know this isn't ideal, but we may have to go ahead with the plan even if they still have Pokemon left in their fort. Scraggy, are you ready?"

"Ready for what? You still haven't explained anything," Scraggy said irritably.

"I don't know how many Pokemon are left in the Spindas' fort, so we may want to bring some fighters, too," Abra mentioned. "Ninetales, you can battle, right? I saw you using Dazzling Gleam before."

"...I've dabbled in battling before, but I wouldn't say that I'm any good at it yet," Ninetales said modestly.

"Actually, I'm not bad in a fight," Cherubi boasted. "Granted, my last battle ended with me in the emergency room, but it was for totally unrelated reasons!"

"That doesn't exactly inspire confidence," said Clefable doubtfully.

"We'll take whoever we can get," Abra said quickly. "Even you, if you're willing, Clefable."

Clefable went pale at the thought of having to battle. "I'll pass."

"Suit yourself. Okay, you three, grab onto me," Abra instructed her teammates. Scraggy and Cherubi each placed an appendage on Abra's arms, and Ninetales placed a paw on Abra's shoulder. Just as soon as they were all done making contact with her, they vanished.

"What the—where did they go?" Clefable sputtered in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Zubat asked, oblivious to what had just transpired.

Clefable stared at him as if it was obvious. "Our teammates! They just disappeared!"

"Oh. That sounds neat," Zubat told her, fluttering in place. "I wish I could have seen that."

Clefable rolled her eyes and returned her gaze to the events unfolding outside. It appeared that Drapion had gained the upper hand in her wrestling match with Aipom, and Monferno was leading Raichu and Swadloon directly toward the fort. Clefable felt her heart rate quicken; maybe she would have to fight after all.

 **####**

Scraggy gasped suddenly as Abra warped the four Basculin into the midst of the Spindas' fort. The Spindas looked just as surprised to see them as they were to be there.

"Your plan was to teleport us _into_ the enemy base?" Scraggy exclaimed, throwing up his hands. Abra shrugged nonchalantly, not wanting to confront Scraggy here of all places. "Yeah, nice plan. What could _possibly_ go wrong?"

"Hi there, friends!" Mimikyu's Pikachu puppet greeted them as the cloth-covered ghost scuttled closer. "What brings you to our fort?"

"Ooh! I think I know why they're here!" Mimikyu cut in, her voice returning to normal. "I think they're here to sabotage us from the inside!"

The Pikachu puppet laughed eerily. "Well, you know just what to do to stop 'em, Mimikyu!"

"That's right!" Mimikyu perked up, giggling quietly to herself. "It's time for the claw!"

Cherubi was about to ask what Mimikyu meant by 'the claw,' but her question was answered before it was even asked as a shadowy claw swept out from underneath Mimikyu's cloth and knocked Scraggy off of his feet. The lizard let out a surprised yelp and landed on his back with a _thud_.

Metang floated closer to the intruders, watching them through wary eyes. "You really must not be smart, coming right into the enemy's territory like this," he droned. "Let's make this quick."

"We'll see about that!" Cherubi challenged him, running at the metallic Pokemon at full speed. Metang rolled his eyes and sent her flying backwards with a quick telekinetic burst.

"Ow," Cherubi moaned as she hit the hard stone wall. "Never mind, I think I might have broken something."

Dragonair slithered up behind Metang, eyeing the Basculin carefully as if anticipating their next move. Shuppet was busy cowering in the corner, wanting nothing to do with the battle unfolding before him.

Scraggy grunted and pushed himself back up. "Well, if we're already here, there's no sense in holding back anymore," he growled. "Let's finish this already."

Mimikyu giggled once more and swiped at him again with her Shadow Claw. Scraggy dodged backwards this time before immediately lunging at her, catching her off guard. He swung full force at Mimikyu, snapping the head of her Pikachu puppet backwards; otherwise, his attack seemed to have no effect.

"You've got to be kidding me," Scraggy groaned. "The head's just part of her damn puppet?"

"Hey! You meanie! You hurt Pikachu!" Mimikyu shouted. She swiped at Scraggy with her Shadow Claw again. "Go away!"

Scraggy blocked her attack to the best of his ability, and Abra tapped him on the shoulder from behind. "Scraggy, don't forget what we're here to do!" she told him. "You focus on destroying the fort. Ninetales and I will handle the other team."

"If you say so," Scraggy agreed reluctantly. He sprinted over to the wall of the fort and brought his fist against it in a shattering Brick Break attack. The wall, as sturdy as it appeared, shook violently from the impact.

"Well, that's not good," Metang said, stating the obvious. "Dragonair, take out Scraggy. Mimikyu and I should be able to handle Abra." Dragonair nodded and slipped past Metang as the metallic Pokemon focused on Abra.

But just as his eyes settled on the floating psychic, she vanished. He was about to alert Dragonair when he heard a voice from behind.

"Hidden Power!" shouted Abra, unleashing a bright burst of energy. Metang was unprepared, and the force of the blast sent him sprawling along the ground until he crashed into the wall of the fort, which was steadily growing weaker.

Dragonair lunged for Scraggy, attempting to prevent him from damaging the fort further, but a beam of frigid ice stopped her in her tracks. Ninetales stepped forward, blocking Dragonair's path.

"Sorry, but we've got a challenge to win," Ninetales said apologetically. "I'm sure you understand."

Dragonair rolled her eyes. "Thunder Wave," the serpent murmured under her breath. Ninetales let out a gasp as she fell to the ground, unable to move. Dragonair slithered past her, looking rather pleased with herself.

"Hurry up, Scraggy! I can't fight all of them at once!" Abra shouted, dodging several swipes from Metang, who hadn't been affected much by her Hidden Power. Both Mimikyu and Dragonair were closing in on Scraggy, who was still busy attempting to take down the fort.

 **####**

Raichu peered behind the wall of the Killer Basculin's fort. "It's...empty," she reported to Monferno and Swadloon with a raised eyebrow. "Huh. Guess they decided to abandon ship after all once they realized they'd lost."

"That seems unlikely. They're probably hiding so that they can ambush us with a surprise attack or something," Swadloon remarked.

Raichu rolled her eyes. "You really think they thought that far ahea—?"

"USE SUPERSONIC, ZUBAT!"

Raichu's senses were assaulted as an ear-piercing screech filled the vicinity. Zubat fluttered down from above, emitting the harmful sounds from his mouth. Clefable stepped out from behind a tree and faced the three intruders with a disappointed expression.

"I can't believe that worked," Clefable muttered. "Whatever. Moonblast."

Clefable held out her palm and a shimmering beam shot out, blasting Raichu square in the chest. The mouse tumbled to the ground, but she seemed to have recovered from Zubat's confusion tactics. Swadloon and Monferno were recovering quickly as well, and Clefable's confidence began to fade.

Zubat took this opportunity to swoop in on the Spindas, smacking Swadloon around with a rather ridiculous looking Wing Attack. Nonetheless, it seemed to do the trick; Swadloon toppled over and didn't get up.

Raichu scowled at Clefable as the Fairy-type backed up and took a defensive stance. "If that's how you wanna play this, two can play at that game," Raichu said. Her lightning-bolt shaped tail began to glow with a metallic sheen, and she ran at Clefable, swinging her tail in an arc at the Fairy Pokemon.

As Raichu's tail was about to make contact with Clefable, an invisible barrier blocked the attack. Raichu's brow furrowed as she saw that Clefable's hands were raised in front of her; she had used Protect to mitigate the effects of Raichu's attack.

Out of the corner of her eye, Raichu saw Monferno dash at Zubat, leaping into the air and ramming a blazing fist into the bat's face. Zubat let out a pained cry and crumpled to the ground, folding his wings in front of him to block any further attacks.

"Not so tough now, are ya?" Raichu taunted Clefable. Clefable was about to spit out a retort, but she held herself back; with Zubat down, it seemed unlikely that she'd be able to fend off Monferno and Raichu on her own. Perhaps it would be best to surrender and hope that Abra's plan worked.

Raichu gave a curt nod to Monferno. "Hit the fort with a Rock Smash," she ordered. "I'll keep an eye on Clefable."

"Roger that," Monferno agreed. He cracked his knuckles and stretched out his arms before slamming a fist into the Basculin's fort with tremendous power. The fort shook, but didn't fall just yet.

Raichu stuck her head out from behind the fort and shouted across the clearing again. "FERALIGATR, BRING ON THE HYDRO PUMPS! WE'RE ALMOST THERE!"

The electric mouse's expression quickly switched to one of confusion as she noticed that Feraligatr was no longer waiting outside the Spindas' fort. Instead, there seemed to be a lot of commotion coming from the inside of the fort, which raised some concern for Raichu.

"Looks like it might be too late for you," Clefable said smugly. Raichu swiveled around and fixed Clefable with an angry look. "Notice how only Zubat and I are still here? Where do you think the rest of my teammates went, hm?"

Raichu's eyes widened in realization, and she anxiously glanced across the field again. The Spindas' fort shook violently, but she couldn't tell where the attack was coming from, meaning that someone had gotten inside.

 **####**

" **I can't believe it! They outsmarted us!" Raichu ranted angrily. "We had everything going perfectly until we decided to leave the fort, but they tricked us somehow!"**

 **Raichu stared into the camera, her arms crossed in determination. "Well, make no mistake! I ain't about to be a part of the losing team** — **no matter how many battles they win, I won't let them win the war."**

 **####**

" **The plan worked, somehow," Clefable muttered, examining her hands with a bored look. "I guess I didn't give Abra enough credit before. Still, I don't trust her—anyone like that could potentially be a threat later."**

 **####**

Feraligatr had entered the fort again upon hearing attacks being thrown about inside, but he was immediately greeted by a Magical Leaf to the face from Cherubi. The Cherry Pokemon had managed to recover from Metang's previous attack, and she appeared determined not to let Feraligatr reach Scraggy.

"Come at me, I dare you!" Cherubi challenged him. "The type matchup isn't in your favor this time, pal!"

Unfortunately for Cherubi, as Scraggy pounded the wall another time, a rock from the top of the fort dislodged itself and dropped onto Cherubi's head, knocking her out in an instant. Feraligatr scratched his head and awkwardly stepped over her unconscious form, thankful to have avoided an unnecessary conflict.

Scraggy grunted in frustration and slammed his fists into the wall again. Brick Break was doing its job and breaking the wall, but not fast enough. Dragonair slithered up behind him and began coiling herself around his torso, pulling him away from the wall.

"Hey, what the hell? Let me go!" Scraggy shouted, hitting Dragonair with his fists. She constricted him tightly to prevent him from reaching the wall, but an Ice Beam attack from Ninetales hit her from behind, causing her to loosen her grip on Scraggy out of surprise. Scraggy slipped free and smashed the fort with another Brick Break, this time triggering a massive reaction from the fort.

Rocks tumbled down on all sides, burying Cherubi, Metang, and Mimikyu in rubble. Abra teleported out of the way just in time, breathing a sigh of relief as the Spindas' fort came crashing down around them. Dragonair and Shuppet stared at the wrecked fort in disbelief.

"Congratulations, Killer Basculin! With the destruction of the Sucky Spindas' fort, you have officially won the first challenge!" Gengar announced, walking across the field to address the campers with Gardevoir in tow.

Metang groaned audibly and pushed some of the rubble off of himself. "Well, that's just great," he muttered. "What happens now?"

"For once, I'm glad that you asked!" Gengar responded. "Since your team lost this challenge, a voting ceremony will take place tonight. I'll explain more about the details when everyone is there and in the condition to listen, seeing as a fair amount of you are still unconscious at the moment."

"The ceremony will take place at the campfire pit, which is just south of the main campsite," Gardevoir added. "It's near the docks, so it's fairly hard to miss."

Drapion shoved Aipom aside and hobbled over to the hosts, her arms raised. "WE LOST? WHAT KIND OF BLASPHEMY IS THIS?" Drapion hissed. "I DEMAND BETTER. PUT ME ON THE OTHER TEAM."

"Sorry, no can do! You're a Sucky Spinda, through and through," Gengar rhymed. "Of course, should you not want to be a Spinda any longer, elimination is always an option!"

Drapion pondered that option briefly. "No, that won't do!" she said, rejecting the idea. "I must WIN, AND ASSERT MY DOMINANCE OVER EVERY OTHER LIVING BEING HERE."

"In that case, you'll want to be present for the voting ceremony. We'll begin around sundown, so make sure your whole team is there!" Gengar told the Sucky Spindas. "With that said, we'll leave the rest of the morning and afternoon to you! Make your decisions about who you want to vote off and come to the ceremony prepared."

Gengar and Gardevoir wandered out of the clearing and back towards the campsite. Omastar helped Aipom to her feet and the two happy-go-lucky Basculin went to wake up their unconscious teammates. Some members of the Spindas were doing the same.

 **####**

" **Well, would you look at that! Not everything went according to plan, but we won!" Omastar boasted cheerfully. "Just like I thought we would! We're unstoppable already, ha ha!"**

 **####**

 **Shuppet stared at the wall of the outhouse guiltily. "...I didn't do anything today," he muttered dejectedly. "And on top of that, my team lost. I'm so screwed."**

 **He sighed deeply. "I mean, maybe there's a chance that I'll make it to the second voting ceremony...maybe."**

 **####**

 **Mimikyu was sitting on the seat in the confessional, her puppet wobbling back and forth as she moved around underneath its cloth. A sewing kit was opened next to her, and she appeared to be fixing the puppet's head.**

" **There! All better!" Mimikyu exclaimed. "How are you feeling, Pikachu?"**

" **A little lightheaded!" the Pikachu puppet joked in response. Mimikyu burst into laughter that continued for far too long.**

" **Are you done in there?" asked an impatient Clefable from outside.**

 **Mimikyu stifled her laughter momentarily. "Almost!" she called back. Clefable could be heard sighing from the other side of the door.**

 **####**

" **My team won the first challenge, which means there isn't much that I'll be able to do tonight," Clefable revealed, facing the camera. "But I do plan to observe the Spindas' voting ceremony. Figuring out which members of the other team could be allied and which ones are the biggest threats could help in future challenges."**

 **####**

Now that the challenge was out of the way, the rest of the day proceeded at a much calmer pace. The food being served for lunch was a step up from Gardevoir's breakfast mush, but only because it lacked any taste whatsoever. Ninetales gratefully accepted another bag of snacks from Politoed instead of eating the cafeteria meal.

"I'm going to run out of snacks at this rate," Politoed commented lightheartedly, gently placing his top hat back on his head.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. But I can't stand this...well, whatever this is supposed to be," Ninetales confessed, prodding the mysterious gray pile of unappealing food warily.

Politoed nodded understandingly and glanced down the table to see what his other teammates were up to. Cherubi was laughing as Aipom tried to balance a fork on her forehead while Omastar cheered her on. Further down the table, Sandslash and Scraggy appeared to be having a petty argument, with Zubat trying to intervene. Politoed glanced to his right and noticed that Abra was watching him.

"Hey. Sorry to bother you," Abra apologized quickly. "I was just curious to, uh...talk to you about something."

"You're doing that right now, aren't you?" Politoed pointed out, smirking.

Abra glanced over Politoed's shoulder at Ninetales and then back at the Frog Pokemon himself. "In private," Abra clarified. "We'll meet behind the girls' cabin, all right?"

"That sounds awfully shady," Politoed remarked. "Would you care to shed any light on what this might be about?"

"I'll explain if you decide to come," Abra said. "We'll meet during the Spindas' voting ceremony, okay? I doubt anyone else will be hanging around the cabins at that time."

Politoed tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Well, all right," he agreed hesitantly. "I'll admit that you have me curious now."

Abra smiled. "Great. See you then." The Psychic-type got up from the table and instinctively dumped her lunch into the trash.

 **####**

"We've got to pick out someone to go home," Raichu said, leaning over the table to discuss possibilities with her teammates. Monferno, Feraligatr, Swadloon, and Dragonair sat around her. "I don't think it's a hard choice, either. We've got two real options."

"And those are?" Monferno prompted her, drumming his fingers on the table absentmindedly as he listened.

"Seedot and Shuppet," Raichu stated. She glanced around for her teammates' reactions, but none of them seemed to have expressed anything yet. "Neither of them were particularly useful today. I doubt they're going to be useful in the future either, so they're probably expendable."

"I'd vote for Shuppet, personally," Swadloon admitted. She met Raichu's gaze. "I get that you don't like Seedot and all, but he at least contributed to the challenge today. Shuppet didn't do anything."

"Seedot is uncooperative. That's gonna be a problem sooner or later," Raichu stated stubbornly. "He's not even that strong. I don't see why we should keep him."

"Because...he's better than Shuppet?" offered Swadloon with a shrug. "It's up to you, but that's my two cents. I'd rather have an argumentative teammate that helps than a timid one that doesn't."

"I would agree with Swadloon," Dragonair interjected. "I can't think of anything that Shuppet truly has to offer this team. We already have two Ghost-types, and he failed to do anything when the Basculin invaded our fort."

"Well, it seems you've all made up your minds," Raichu said with a sigh. "I can't argue with you. Getting rid of Shuppet might be the better move to make right now."

Monferno nodded, and Feraligatr casually shrugged, not really committing to any side. "I'll see you all at the voting ceremony," Raichu concluded, getting up to leave.

Seedot's eyes followed Raichu from his seat further down the table. As much as he hated to admit it, she was going to be a problem—and he needed to find a way to solve it.

 **####**

" **Nobody else on this team really seems dead set on getting me eliminated except Raichu. Thus, if I get her eliminated first, that should clear my path for a while," explained Seedot, his feet dangling over the edge of the seat. "I didn't plan on targeting anyone this early in the game, but you've got to what you've got to do."**

 **####**

Eventually, day gave way to evening, and the Sucky Spindas made their way down to the campfire pit as the sun began to set. The hosts were already waiting for them there, both standing behind a wooden podium. Gengar gestured for the eleven campers to take a seat on the tree stumps that were scattered in front of the podium.

As they did so, the ghostly host cleared his throat. "Attention, ladies and gentlemen!" Gengar announced loudly. "Tonight, there are eleven Sucky Spindas sitting here before me. By the end of the night, there will only be ten."

Shuppet swallowed nervously and Seedot's eyes darted to the side, betraying his lack of confidence. Raichu smirked as she noticed this.

Behind the podium, Gardevoir passed a tray to Gengar. The tray had ten brightly colored Poffins on it. "Each member of this team has voted for one Pokemon that they wish to eliminate," Gengar stated. "The Pokemon who received the most votes will be forced to leave the team."

The host clapped his hands together, gaining the attention of all eleven losers. "So, without further ado, here we go!" Gengar began enthusiastically. "When I call your name, you may come up and claim a Poffin. Once you receive one, you are considered safe for tonight's ceremony."

Raichu leaned forward in her seat, eager to hear the first name called. "The first Poffin goes to…" Gengar paused briefly. "Swadloon!"

"Hey, nice," Swadloon said, looking appreciative to receive the first Poffin. Raichu looked put out by the fact that she hadn't been called first, but she kept silent.

"The next Poffin goes to Drifblim," Gengar called. The Blimp Pokemon floated up the host and took her Poffin with a curt nod. "And the third Poffin goes to Feraligatr!"

Monferno gave Feraligatr a pat on the shoulder, and Feraligatr lumbered up to the hosts to take his Poffin. "Dragonair, you're up next!" Gengar announced. The serpent smiled mysteriously and took her Poffin without a word.

"Monferno, you are also safe," Gengar added, tossing a Poffin to Monferno. He caught it in both hands and popped it into his mouth with a grin.

"And lastly, Mimikyu," Gengar said, throwing her a Poffin. Unlike Monferno, Mimikyu did not have readily available hands to catch the Poffin, so it simply bounced off the head of her puppet. Mimikyu scurried over to the Poffin and snatched it up underneath her cloth.

Raichu gave Gengar a confused look. "Wait, what do you mean, 'lastly?' There's five of us left!" Raichu reminded him. Besides Raichu, Poffins had still not been distributed to Seedot, Shuppet, Drapion, or Metang, either.

"You are correct, but this is where our elimination ceremony gets interesting. You see, everyone that remains without a Poffin has received at least one vote in tonight's ceremony!" Gengar informed the contestants. "That means that every one of you remaining has at least one reason to go home! So you'd better hope that you're not the one, or it could be game over for you!"

Shuppet was already shaking, knowing that there was a good chance it could be him. Raichu looked horrified that someone had voted for her already. Metang and Seedot remained expressionless, not wanting to overreact before the outcome was revealed.

"Anyways, the next Poffin goes to Metang," Gengar called. Metang hovered over to Gengar and took his Poffin with a hollow sigh.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Metang asked Gengar, holding the Poffin in his metal claws.

Gengar chuckled. "You're supposed to eat it, buddy."

Metang rolled his eyes. "Wow, thanks for that," he responded sarcastically. "No, I mean that I don't have a mouth. What do you want me to do, throw this in the trash?"

"If that's what you want to do, be my guest," Gengar said with a shrug. Metang groaned and floated back to his seat.

"I'll take it if you don't want it!" Mimikyu shouted out immediately. Metang tossed the Poffin at her halfheartedly.

"Drapion, you're up next," Gengar said. Drapion didn't seem to be paying any attention to the ceremony, as she was intensely focused on whittling a stick to perfection. The pointed end of the stick already looked sharp enough to murder someone with, but evidently Drapion wasn't satisfied.

"Drapion," Gengar repeated. "Earth to Drapion."

She still didn't notice. "Whatever," grunted Gengar, chucking the Poffin at her. Swadloon nudged Drapion in the leg and pointed to the Poffin, which Drapion then grabbed from the ground and hurled into the distance as far as she could.

"YOU WON'T BRAINWASH ME!" Drapion shouted defensively, giving the hosts a wild look.

"Okay," Gengar said uncertainly, exchanging a glance with Gardevoir. "Anyways, Raichu is also safe."

"Finally," Raichu muttered under her breath in relief. She got up from her seat and took the Poffin from Gengar eagerly, taking a bite from it once she sat back down. It had a pleasant, sweet flavor but a rather dry texture.

"And that brings us to the two of you," Gengar said, facing Seedot and Shuppet. Seedot, who ordinarily looked bored in most situations, had assumed an expression of legitimate worry. On the other hand, Shuppet had already entered panic mode and was frantically muttering things to himself under his breath, trying to keep his emotions in check.

Gengar set the tray containing the last Poffin down on the podium. "You've both reached the bottom two, a place where no contestant wants to be," said the host, his hands clasped together. "One of you will still make it out unscathed. However, one of you will not. This last Poffin will go to…"

Seedot's eyes darted between each of his teammates as he tried to figure out who could have voted for him. There was obviously Raichu, but who else? Who would have wanted him on the chopping block?

Shuppet stared down at his seat, willfully avoiding all eye contact. If ghosts could sweat, he would very much be doing so right now. But ghosts don't sweat.

Gengar twirled the Poffin around in his hand some more, clearly enjoying the tension. "...Seedot," he finished, tossing the Poffin to Seedot.

The acorn let the Poffin drop to the ground, as he didn't have the means to catch it. He was more relieved to hear his name called than anything. "Okay," Seedot murmured. "That was a bit close for comfort."

Shuppet felt himself fighting back tears already. He had made it onto the show, only to be the first one eliminated? He would never live this down when he got home. He was already made fun of enough, but this was happening on television!

"Shuppet," Gardevoir called out his name. The little ghost glanced up at the co-host as she approached his seat. "You received the most votes from your team."

"That means you gotta go," Raichu said. "Sorry it had to be you, but this is the way it's gotta be."

"Actually, Raichu, not tonight!" Gengar announced with a grin. Raichu gave him a perplexed look. "You see, tonight's voting ceremony was not to eliminate someone from the competition, but rather to eliminate someone from your team!"

"What?" asked Raichu, trying to figure out what the host meant.

"What this means is that Shuppet will be leaving your team," Gardevoir clarified. "But tonight's elimination is a bit of a twist, to kick things off with a bang. Shuppet won't be leaving the show; instead, he'll be switching teams."

"Wait, seriously?" Monferno asked. "Nobody's going home tonight?"

"Nope. We thought it might be a bit too early to eliminate someone on their second day here, so instead the punishment for losing is simply giving a reward to the other team," Gardevoir stated. She turned to face Shuppet, whose expression was unreadable. "Shuppet, as of now, you are a member of the Killer Basculin."

"I...what?" Shuppet asked, trying to comprehend what was going on around him.

"You can head back to your cabin now and pack up your belongings. It might be a bit cramped in the male Basculin's cabin, but it is what it is," Gengar said with a shrug. "We'll fill the Basculin in tomorrow on what's happening."

"As for the rest of you, the ceremony tonight is now over. You can head back to your cabins," Gardevoir told the contestants.

As the Sucky Spindas began filing out of the campfire pit, most of them cast curious glances back at Shuppet, who hadn't moved since the twist had been announced.

Once the last Spinda had finally left, Shuppet felt a strange smile spreading across his face. "I'm...I'm still in," he said, feeling a rush of relief as the reality settled in. "I can still do this."

From the bushes, Clefable chuckled to herself. With this knowledge, she could continue to stay one step ahead of the game.

 **####**

" **Yes! Yes! This is so awesome!" Shuppet chanted excitedly. "It sucked to be on the losing team, but now I'm a part of the winning team because of it! This wasn't a loss at all!"**

 **He laughed to himself for a bit before his expression grew more serious. "I don't know if the other team's really going to accept me, though," he realized nervously. "What if they hate me? Oh no."**

 **####**

" **I knew I should have convinced my teammates to vote out Seedot," Raichu sighed. "Oh well. It's a missed opportunity at this point."**

 **####**

" **I wasn't expecting the hosts to change the rules of the game on us so quickly," Drifblim confessed. "Very...interesting."**

 **####**

Shuppet was in the male Spindas' cabin, packing up the last of his belongings before he headed out. He noticed several shadows looming in the doorway, and he turned around to see who it was.

"Sorry to see you go," Feraligatr muttered awkwardly, squeezing in through the doorway and giving Shuppet a sympathetic look. Shuppet's other cabinmates were all there too, except none of them appeared quite as sad to see Shuppet leave.

"It's okay...it's not like this is your fault. And now I get to be on the winning team, so…" Shuppet trailed off as he saw Feraligatr extending a hand toward him.

"It was nice being on the same team, for however long it lasted," Feraligatr said pleasantly, giving Shuppet a small smile.

Shuppet laughed nervously. "Uh, yeah...thanks. It was nice being on your team, too," he said. He reached down and awkwardly shook Feraligatr's hand with the bottom of his cloth body.

Shuppet closed up his small suitcase and headed for the door. Monferno gave him a final wave, and Metang gestured for him to move along. Shuppet floated through the door and stared at the Basculin's door on the other side of the cabin. For some reason, the other side of the cabin seemed even more menacing now that it was where he was going to be staying.

Shuppet swallowed his fears and pushed open the door. There was nothing to be afraid of, right?

 **####**

 **Clefable had a radiant smile on her face as she looked into the camera. "I'm glad I decided to watch the voting ceremony," she admitted. "It was not what I was expecting to see, that's for sure. We even gained a teammate out of this one, so that's a bonus."**

 **She paused briefly, her enthusiasm waning. "Granted, it IS Shuppet, but he can at least be elimination fodder if we need him to be," she stated. "All in all, this game is going well for me. And that's all I need in order to win."**

 **####**

Politoed hummed a jazzy tune to himself as he strolled across the campsite. His head was filled with all sorts of questions as he rounded the corner of the girls' cabin, curious about what awaited him at his destination.

Abra and Cherubi stared back at Politoed as he finally arrived behind the cabin. "Ah, there you are!" Politoed exclaimed, though he was careful to maintain a low volume so as not to alert anyone else. "What did you wish to see me for, if I may ask?"

"Well, first of all, I'm glad you decided to actually show up. That shows that you trust me at least a little bit," Abra said appreciatively. "And on a related note, my next question is going to require a fair amount of trust."

"I'll hear you out, but I can't make any promises until I hear the question," Politoed replied. His eyes darted over to Cherubi briefly; she seemed to be sporting multiple bruises from the challenge, but she was holding up admirably well despite this.

Abra smiled. "Would you like to be in an alliance?"

Politoed gave her a curious look. "It's awfully early for this kind of talk. Don't you think it may be premature to start creating alliances before our first elimination even occurs?"

"The Spindas just eliminated someone," Abra said with a shrug. "And we don't want to fall behind them. Anyways, you and I have talked a bit before, and you're one of the few Pokemon on this team that I could think to ask."

Abra nodded her head toward Cherubi. "Cherubi was the other, and she's already accepted my offer. But an alliance of three would be stronger than two."

"Yep. So, are you in?" Cherubi asked, smiling at Politoed. He closed his eyes for a moment, mulling it over.

"An alliance would benefit all of us, if you ask me," Abra explained. She looked at Politoed expectantly, awaiting his answer. "So what's it going to be?"

Politoed considered the offer briefly, before shaking his head. "I'm afraid I can't do that."

Abra and Cherubi looked at each other in surprise. "Why not?" asked Cherubi, looking a bit hurt by Politoed's choice to decline.

"Like I said, it's too early to make this type of commitment. I'll keep your offer in mind, but I'm not pledging myself to any alliances so quickly," Politoed told her. "I wish the best of luck to both of you."

On that note, the frog turned and walked away. Cherubi gave Abra a perplexed look, and the Psychic-type sighed. Her pitch hadn't worked after all, leaving them short a potentially crucial ally.

"On the bright side, he didn't say that he'd never join," Cherubi said hopefully. "So maybe he's still considering it!"

"We can hope," Abra responded, floating toward the entrance to her cabin. "I'm going to call it a night. See you later, Cherubi."

"See you."


End file.
